Fukufic 101: A mother's love
by Grizzmon
Summary: AU. Ranma pretends to be Ranko for a few days to be with his mother. But things start to get weird. Who knew that chi eating monsters attacked Juuban?
1. A different beginning

**AN1: **English is NOT my native language, thank you.

**Episode 01: A different beginning **

Ranma Saotome or "Ranko" as he called his female form, was working at the Cat Café. It had been two weeks, two weeks of dealing with the old ghoul, with Akane being angry at him, Shampoo insisting on dates and Mousse trying to kill him. Really not the best way to spend the summer. Genma believed that like it had happened before, Cologne was extorting him with something, like a cure to his curse. Ryoga had yet to appear in the two weeks Ranma has been doing this, meaning his rival was due to do his usual "Uh, Where I am? Ranma! For you I know hell, I will kill you!" routine any time soon.

But the truth was, Ranma was doing this on his own free will, he didn't even have the excuse of doing this for training. His excuse, was one he didn't wanted anyone to find out, cause it made him feel... weak, and embarrassed him to no end.

His excuse was his mother, Nodoka Saotome, who Ranma could only meet in female form due to a stupid contract his father had made sign him when he was a little kid. Basically if Ranma proved not to be "A man among men", his mother would kill him and his father. So Ranma could only be with his mother pretending to be Ranko, Akane's cousin. The problem was, Ranma wanted to spend a few days with his mother, even if it had to be as "Ranko" and knowing Ranma luck, hot water was gonna get in the way and try to change him to a guy, so he needed to do something about that.

That was why he needed money, to buy a special kind of soap, one the old ghoul could get him.

Now, his shift was over, and it was the end of two weeks of torture being "Ranko" for ten hours a day. Ironically, now Ranma was gonna be a girl full time for a few days. So, besides the minimum pay, Cologne have him a single bar of the soap, box included, there was just one problem.

"Wait, this doesn't look like the usual waterproof soap, I mean is pink!" Ranko said, he had been scammed too many times to ignore blatant differences like this, even if he didn't knew the language the soap instructions were written in.

"That's because is a special kind, this is waterproof beauty soap, it lasts more, keeps your skin nice and soft, and smells like strawberries." Cologne said, it was hard to tell from her face, but it seemed like she was enjoying this, not like she only have him that soap because it was the only brand available or because of some mistake.

"But... but... no way I am gonna use something this girly!" Ranko protested, using a whining girl tone despite himself... or herself... having spend so much hours a day as Ranko willingly was messing Ranma gender pronouns.

"Son-in-law if you don't use this, your mother will probably insist that you use a more girly soap, maybe even switch the bar of soap, is her house the one you will be staying for a few days, after all."

"Wait, you know? But... I mean, why are you helping me? Is not like you want me to stay as a girl or something, do you? Maybe you have some grandson you want me to marry?" Ranma started to panic, if Akane found out the "pervert" wanted to stay as a girl on purpose for a few days then... Oh who was she kidding? If ANYONE found, Ranma would be in a world of pain.

"No, but family is important, why else you think I am taking care of Shampoo? The girl may have skill in the art, but her mind, well... "

Rannma calmed herself down and nodded, Cologne had just said her granddaughter was dumb, at least that was something both could agree on.

"Besides, being with her a few days will help you to try convince her that Ranma Saotome is manly, even if sometimes he is a girl." The old ghoul winked, making Ranko step back in surprise. She finally understood, Cologne needed Nodoka approval if she ever wanted Ranma Saotome, man among men, to marry Shampoo, it was Amazon law.

"Well, whatever, I will take it." Ranko saved the soap and money in her backpack then walked outside, Mousse was waiting for her, she frowned, she was not in the mood for another of their battles.

"Ranma, thats why you been working here for two weeks? So you can be with your mother?" Mousse asked looking curious, Ranko face palmed, at this rate everyone would find out in mere hours.

"Yes, now if you excuse me, I have a train to Juuban to catch!" Ranko ran away at an amazing speed, leaving a surprised Mousse behind. Instead of climbing to the train and holding to the side like "Ranma" would do, "Ranko" paid her ticket and went inside the train. When she finally arrived, it was night already.

Then Ranko looked around Juuban's train station and remembered something important "Dammit, my mother never told me where her new house in Juuban is!"

Ranko started to wander around Juuban, after all, men didn't ask for directions, then she face palmed. Wasn't she supposed to be pretending to be Ranko, a girl? Still, Nodoka had just moved a month ago, finding someone who knew one Nodoka Saotome would be hard. Wait, didn't she had one of the letters her mother had sent to "Ranma"? Ranko jumped to a rooftop, opened her backpack and started to unpack, there it was. Thankfully it was sent from her mother new address, now all she had to do was...

RAAHHH!

What the hell was that? It sounded like an angry demon or something. It was the duty of a martial artist to protect the weak, she should go and see what it was about.

Ranko looked to where the roar had come from, and heard another one that was even louder. She picked her stuff back into her backpack and started to jump rooftops to see what was going on.

After a few blocks, Ranma saw two girls in embarrassing revealing dresses that were basically girl school uniforms with short skirts, fighting a lizard monster. Their fighting style was terrible, the girl with blue hair just seemed to avoid the monster attack in a very scared way, while the blonde with two long ponytails was crying and saying she didn't wanted to fight, someone seemed to be yelling at the blonde, hiding behind a trashcan.

The blonde girl threw some sort of disk to the monster shouting "MOON TIARA ACTION!", but the monster grabbed it with its strong hands, stooping it, the monster hands were hurt, bleeding black blood, but besides that, it didn't seem to have taken much of a beating. Wait, was that disk... a tiara?

Ranko drooped her backpack and jumped at the lizard back, kicking it and making the monster growl, what the heck? Her leg hurt and it felt like it had lot a lost of chi, and the monster barely moved with the kick!

The monster drooped the tiara and looked at her... this monster drained chi, so direct contact and energy attacks were out. Well, she could at least annoy the hell out of it, right?

"Hey ugly? Why are you fighting weak girls with skirts? Do you fear to fight a real challenge?" Ranko yelled and sticked her tongue out to the monster, the monster roared and started to chase her. Damn, running with one limping leg was hard, Ranko was no idiot when it came to the art of fighting. Those girls seemed to be some kind of monster hunters, and that tiara attack looked like magic, so she was just distracting the monster until...

"MOON TIARA ACTION!"

The monster roared for the last time as it turned to dust, Ranko looked back surprised. Such a powerful creature and it only took one attack? Still, she had seen the girls fight, they really needed help, and well, she needed something to do besides girl stuff so maybe...

"Who are you? Why did you try to fight the Youma? You could have died!" Asked a talking black cat, wait a minute, a talking... black... cat?

"AHH!" Ranko yelled a girly scream, jumped back to the rooftop, graved her backpack and ran out of there. Her leg hurt like hell for the strain she was putting in it , but no way she was gonna let another talking demon cat get her, one was bad enough, thank you!

"Was something I say?" The talking cat asked confused

"Well Luna, maybe you should have let us do the talking first? The poor girl almost got killed by a monster and the next thing she sees is a talking cat." The blue haired girl said, the blonde was confused and staring to where the red head had just been, then she finally said "Maybe it was another senshi?"

"Maybe." Luna said, since she was hiding behind a trashcan, not only they would probably give her a bath, but she had also lost sight most of the fight.

When Ranko finally stooped running, she was in the other side of the city, and her leg hurt like hell. She looked around, was that a Shinto shrine? Then, just to put salt to the wound, it started to rain. Maybe she could ask refuge there? The rain was a good excuse, and if she arrived to her mother home with her leg like that she would make her worry. Then Nodoka would ask her how she got her leg injured, and then she would tell her than what she did was pretty stupid, and so on. With no better option at hand, the read head walked to the shrine and knocked the door.

Someone opened the door, Ranko saw a familiar face and froze "Ryoga?"

No! Not now, not after how tired she was and with her leg like that, no more of this dammit! It was bad enough she had to be rescued by two stupid girls in fukus and their evil demon cat! She didn't want to fight, she wanted to take a hot bath, she wanted to sleep. She wanted to...

What would a girl do?

"Uh, Ryoga? Can we postpone our fight for later? Is raining." Ranko then looked at Ryoga again, he was just staring at her like he just saw a ghost, what the hell was going on? Where was the usual face of anger?

"Well..." Ryoga seemed to think for about a moment "I just had a warm bath, so yeah, I can wait." Why did Ryoga sound so... relaxed? That's it, it must be a trap! Then Ranko looked at her chest, it was raining heavily, and while she was wearing a bra, her shirt was soaked. That means the reason Ryoga had looked at her like that way was because...

Ranko entered the temple and started laughing, being watched by a very confused Ryoga.

"Ranma, are you ok?" Ryoga asked worried, why was Ranma laughing? Was she laughing at him? No, when Ranma made fun of him he usually called him P-chan. The boy looked himself over, then touched his head, then looked around. "Ok, I give up, what's so funny?"

"You... hahaha... you find me cute!" Ranma said and forced herself to stop laughing, "You were looking at my chest right? Only that because you know me and I am fully clothed you didn't nosebleed."

"WHAT? NO WAY, YOU ARE A BOY, I AM IN NO WAY ATRACTED TO YOU!" Ryoga yelled, his face full of anger, the only thing stooping the boy from attacking Ranma was the fact he had not insulted him, the fact Ryoga was a guest in the shrine and didn't want to destroy the place, and the fact that with so much rain girl Ranma would defeat him in mere minutes.

"Is okay, I just had a bad day, I needed a laugh, thank you" Ranko said smiling

"Wait... you said.. thank you?" Ryoga eyes opened wide, what the heck was wrong with Ranma?

"Yes, I did. Besides, I am injured" Ranko pointed to her leg " Is raining, and a real master of the art knows when to fight and when not to."

"That sounds... so unlike you." Ryoga said "Did something happen? Did you hit your head or something? Are you possessed? This is a Shinto shrine, they can exorcise you if a demon is in your body."

"Well, you also not seem like yourself, normally you would be attacking me now, even with the rain. Lets just say... " Ranko winks at Ryoga " Remember that time when I was weak and helpless and everyone was attacking me? You defended me, you cried because you saw me being weak, you are a true friend."

"What? No way! I just was following the code, to protect the weak, to protect those who can't protect themselves!" Ryoga protested, but then... did he really hate Ranma so much? It was true that it was because of Ranma he was cursed to turn into a pig with cold water, it was true that he hated him because Akane loved Ranma and not him. But then, if Ranma was really his enemy he would have told Akane that he was P-chan long ago.

Damn, thinking this was so hard! Normally he would not be thinking these things but he had been in the Shrine a few days, they were nice to him, they did not care if he turned into a pig, he helped with the heavy work and they allowed him to stay and have him food in return. The temple was like a second home to him, he honestly didn't want to run away because he and Ranma destroyed the place.

"Okay... I guess... we are friends, just don't tell anyone!" Ryoga said "And don't think I have up on Akane! If you ever make her cry I will kill you!"

"Sounds good for me, can I take a bath? If I stay wearing this wet clothes I will catch a cold" Ranma seemed so... dammit Ryoga, don't look at her like that, Ranma is a boy, not a girl!

"Eh sure... just follow me, and please don't break anything." Ryoga said looking down, dammit Ranma, why you had to act so friendly while being a girl? It was very confusing!

Ranma had a hot bath, only that when she exited the bathroom, Ranma was still a girl, and it was a girl that did not care to cover her chest with a towel.

"Ranma dammit, don't do that!" Ryoga turned around covering his nose, damn girl Ranma giving him a nosebleed, why was Ranma still a girl? Thankfully he had bought a box of paper handkerchiefs.

"Sorry, I used waterproof soap, I will be staying with my mother and you know... the whole she only knows me as Ranko stuff, right?" Ranko asked, not knowing if Ryoga was aware of the whole deal.

"Kasumi told me, are you gonna tell her the truth?" Ryoga asked, still not looking at stupid girl Ranma breasts that made him think Ranma was a real girl and not a boy.

"I don't know, thats why I am in Minato. Maybe... maybe my dad tricked her, maybe she just holds to that stupid contract because she was alone for ten years. I wanna find out what kind of woman my mother is."

"Good luck" Ryoga said "I can't get an extra futton without waking someone but there is a couch you can use, and please cover those things, this is a temple!"

"Uh?" Ranma looked at her chest, then covered it with her arms "Sorry, is there someplace I can change?"

"There are a few empty rooms but I don't wanna wake up anyone, I been using the living room, I just wake up early in the morning before they need it." The boy led Ranma-chan to the living room "I won't look, I will just stay guarding the door in case someone comes." Ryoga did just that, his right hand trembling for some reason, maybe he was nervous?

"What? I don't need your help P...Ryoga... thanks" Ranko grins, maybe thinking what a girl would do wasn't so bad? In a way, this whole situation felt good.

While Ranma got dressed, Ryoga Hibiki held his right hand with his left hand, Why was Ranma-chan was making him so nervous? What? When did Ranma become Ranma-chan? No way! He wasn't thinking that! It was one thing that he and Ranma had become friends but to even thing about... nosebleed again. At this rate, he would run out of paper handkerchiefs.

"Done, you can look now" Ranko said, Ryoga looked at Ranma, both relived and disappointed that Ranma was wearing a night gown that was a bit big for her and not very revealing. Wait... night gown?

"Where did you get that?" Ryoga had heard about Ranma wanting to stay a few days with her mother as Ranko, but since when Ranma did sleep on a night gown?

"Aunt Nodoka bought it for me, this is the lest risque and more comfortable one I got. " Ranko said smiling "Now, since I am a girl, we can't sleep in the same room, as you said, this is a temple."

"Fine" Ryoga took the futton and moved it to near the entrance door then came back to the living room "Are you aware this may be the strangest thing we have done? Even more weird than that time with the age change mushrooms? "

"I know, this is crazy, maybe I will follow your advice later and see if I am possessed or something" Ranko said, no longer smiling as that seemed to make Ryoga nervous, and she needed to sleep, it would be good for her leg.

"Good night Ranma"

"Good night Ryoga"

Finally alone, Ranko accommodated herself on the couch and quickly got asleep, the fact she had been chi drained, was tired and used to sleep anywhere really helped to that.

When Ryoga was alone in his futton, Ranma-chan words sounded in his head "She has more risque night gowns?" That was it, he passed out with a nosebleed.

Ranma woke up in a good mood, it was quite strange, he looked around, he was a couch, in a living room, that seemed to have space for several people, the sun was shinning, and Ranma... was wearing a night gown.

Ranma looked himself all over, then noticed "he" was a girl. Ah right, traveling to Juuban, the monster, the weird girls, rain, waterproof beauty soap.

Ranko smiled, why was she so goddamn happy? She changed clothes to wear a blue jean and a red t-shirt, then put on her shoes, and went outside. It was a beautiful day, no stupid panda fighting her at the morning, no fights with stupid panda for the food, no uncute tomboy yelling at her. In a way, it was paradise, it was amazing how a good nights sleep could improve her mood. Her leg was still a little stiff, time to fix that. She sat down in front of the shrine in a lotus pose, cleaned her mind and concentrated in extending her chi to the leg that had been drained. Then she focused in harmonizing the flow of chi in her body. After a few minutes she was done.

Ranko mind went back to the youma, that thing had been pretty dangerous. If it had drained her so much just by kicking it, then a regular person would have fainted and with a few minutes it would have been drained to death. And yet those two girls in fukus had defeated it with a single attack. For someone like her it seemed unfair, Ranma Saotome had trained more than a decade to perfect her art, and she had been only a mere distraction for that monster.

It sure wasn't like the demons Ranko had to deal in the past, that youma was some kind of chi vampire, so she guessed that killing it had been inevitable. All her life, she had never used the art for killing, but this youma the Senshi fought were predators, and their prey were humans, it was a matter of kill or be killed.

While she stood up and she focused in a basic and slow kata, she wondered what to do next, having breakfast with "Aunt Nodoka" sounded good, but it was still to early. Her mother might know a few things about the art, but she didn't seem to practice it, so she guessed she was still sleeping. Besides, it would be rude to leave without saying goodbye, after all, girls were supposed to be polite.

"Hey Ranma, care to help me?" Asked Ryoga in a casual way "I got some errands to do around here, but we can have breakfast first."

Ranko looked amazed at Ryoga, he was wearing the white robes of a male shinto priest only without the hat "You are a priest now?"

"No, but my clothes... the priest said they smelled." Ryoga seemed uncomfortable wearing such loose robes "Anyway, want breakfast?" Ryoga was surprised he had to ask twice, after all, this was Ranma they were talking about, Ranma never missed free food.

"Yes that sounds good, I don't have to dress like a Miko, right?"

"No if you don't want to, you are lucky the priest had to leave in a hurry, he would have tried to recruit you. It seems he is desperate to get cute girls to be maidens in the temple."

"Well, I guess having cute girls as Shinto Priestess would attract clients." Ranko knew a real girl would have blushed when the lost boy had said she was cute, but this was Ryoga, and she had made him nervous enough last night. Ranko didn't knew how long nice Ryoga was gonna last, but she preferred him this way. Plus, she may be pretending to be a real girl but better not to take the act too far.

"Yeah... why... why are we being like this? Just talking like old friends? Is the air here or something?" Ryoga said, to be honest, if he and Ranma didn't start to trade blows soon he was gonna to freak out, plus he needed the training.

"I have no damn clue, but we can fight later if you want." The lost boy nodded and Ranko went inside, looking for the kitchen, letting her nose guide her. Ryoga had made breakfast, It smelled so good, she guessed that maybe Kasumi had been giving lessons to him or something.

Ryoga sat in the table, far away from her, it was a big table, Ranko wondered where everyone else was. Ryoga had said the priest had to leave in a hurry, but where Ryoga and him the only people around? It made no sense. She finished eating before asking "Where is everyone else?"

"They went with the priest, as I said, it was an emergency, some rich guy insisted her daughter was possessed. Master Hino decided to go with his apprentices so they might learn something. They are four of them, but only one seems real interested, the other three just take it as a summer job."

"So, are you gonna become a priest or something?" Ranko asked, curious

"No, but this place... I feel good to be here, Master Hino even knows about my curse and doesn't care. At least I have people to talk to, while in my house, there is never anyone there."

"So... I been thinking... how much are they paying?" Ranko asked, unsure why she was even asking that question, maybe because she had no idea what else talk about.

"That's the problem, is minimum wage, and many people don't come here, but Mikos get a part of the money people wastes here, too bad we don't even have one."

"Really? How much?"

"He said 3% but if you do your cute girl act I bet you can make him go for double of that."

"What? Me? A Miko? No way, I am not even a real girl!" Ranko protested

"So, what? You have used your girl form to get money and free things before, besides that way you can have an excuse to come here everyday so we can practice." Ryoga sounded... smart, was this how the lost boy was like when he didn't let his emotions get the best of him?

"Really? Practice? No fight to the death?"

"I don't want this place destroyed, besides this isn't Nerima, I don't want the sailor Senshi attacking me thinking I am a youma or something."

"Sailor Senshi?"

"Two girls in sexy outfits that fight monsters, they been doing that for a while. I think they are called Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury, Moon seems to be a dumb blonde, and Mercury has blue hair and is the brains of the team."

"Ah, ok whatever." So thats how these two girls were called. Just basic sparing with Ryoga wasn't gonna cut her boredom, but fighting youma was out of the question unless Ranko could use magic. And for what she knew, unless you got a favor from a Kami or a magic weapon, learning magic took decades.

After helping Ryoga around the temple, Ranko promised she would come tomorrow for some practice, picked her bag and left. After taking a bus like a real girl would, instead of roof jumping, Ranko arrived to her mother house.

"Hi aunt Nodoka!" the red head hugged the woman that was really her mother, stupid contract, maybe she could make some panda stew when she went back to Nerima.

"Ranko! I was expecting you to come yesterday, did something happen?" Nodoka Saotome was glad that the girl was wearing something else for a change. She even noticed Ranko was wearing a bra, that was an improvement, but she still had a lot to do to make Ranko a proper lady.

"I... I ran away from a youma attack, so I had to rest in a temple because it started to rain." Ranma Saotome was usually a bad liar, he was terrible bluffing, and at card games, but "Ranko Tendo" had got a lot of practice using being a girl to cheat and get stuff, beside that had been close enough to the truth.

"You poor thing! Are you hungry? Come inside I will make you breakfast!" Nodoka quickly looked at Ranko, she didn't seem injured, her clothes were clean and haven't been destroyed, but if she had been drained by a youma she must be felling tired.

"Breakfast sounds good." Ranko needed to replenish her chi reserves and besides it was free food. The girl was glad this was her second breakfast, now that she wasn't hungry, she could eat slowly and like a lady, she knew that would please her mother.

Nodoka and Ranko talked for a while, the red head saying they haven't let her take mister Panda by train, and that that dumb panda seemed to be more comfortable at her uncle's Dojo anyway, so she had let it here. Nodoka had believed the lie that Genma panda form was actually an almost extinct combat breed of panda, that explained why it was so smart and why she sometimes saw it fight with Ranko.

When Nodoka questions went about Ranko Tendo personal life, the girl was happy she had paid Nabiki to make up a believable story to tell aunt Nodoka. Ranko was an orphan, her parents having died due to a car accident, since she was the heir to the " Tendo Combat Panda style" she tended to go his uncle Dojo a lot, as it helped her to train. When she became an adult and got married, she was gonna inherit her family money and her dad Dojo, meanwhile the Dojo was just rented so she had enough money for living.

"I had no idea, it must be really hard to live on your own." Nodoka looked at the red head girl, maybe thats why she had been so nice to her, because she had somewhat knew the poor girl was alone and needed some love.

"One gets used to it but I am glad to have you auntie." If they found out that Ranma Saotome was being all girly and hugging her mommy like a little girl, well thats not good.

"I know how to cheer you up, lets go shopping!" Nodoka said and Ranko groaned, she had hoped that by dressing like all girly she could avoid just that, but it seemed one Ranma Saotome didn't knew her mother so well.

Later, at Juuban shopping center, in the second floor, Nodoka made her try several dresses. Remembering one of the lines she had prepared in a case like this Ranko said "This is too girly, I am more into the cute tomboy style."

"Ranko dear, there is nothing wrong with wearing a beautiful dress." Nodoka insisted

"I am a martial artist, I have to wear clothes that that allow movement." Just then, there was lots of screaming, maybe another youma attack?

Ranko used the distraction to grab the two outfits that she could tolerate to wear and push them to Nodoka arms. "These two are ok, tell you what, you can make me wear two dresses you like and in exchange you can buy me these two outfits, ok?"

"Four dresses I like and we make a deal."

"Fine." Ranko wondered if maybe the reason her mother was like that with Ranko was because she always wanted a daughter. While her first impulse had been to go and try to find a way to defeat the youma, she knew only magic worked and she wanted to keep her mother safe.

It turned out it was quite lucky Ranko had decided to ignore the monster this time, because, in the first floor of the shopping center...

"You foul beast, do you dare to ruin my date? I strike!" Takewaki Kuno tried to strike a giant red tiger woman with his boken, only to be sent flying away with a mere punch, that made him lost a lot of chi, and he fainted.

Nabiki Tendo stared at the youma in fear, it was not really a date, Nabiki had convinced Kuno to take her to shop for clothes with him paying. It was in exchange of some information about Ranma he could use to defeat him. They had ended in Minato because he said he had to go there to deal with some family business. It turned out Kuno was not as stupid as he seemed, as he actually owned the Juuban district shopping center and several business inside it, so he could get her clothes for free. Then out of nowhere Kuno had decided that it was a date and got her flowers, and then the youma appeared. The creature seemed to not have any eyes, it seemed to react when people moved, so she could not scape.

Thankfully, Ranko and Nabiki weren't the only girls shopping in the mall...

"You there, big ugly kitty! You think you can..." Nabiki mentally shut out the rest of Sailor moon speech and took out her camera. So she could sell pictures of the fight to the highest bidder, who would be of course, a fan. Getting an autograph would also be good, but she guessed the Sailor Senshi would not be too happy about the pics.

"Shabbon spray!"

Nabiki saw everything getting covered by a blue mist but she could still hear noises of the fight going. Some girl with blue hair and a fuku grabbed her upon her shoulders and started to run, it was the other Sailor Senshi. Next thing Nabiki knew, she was outside the Shopping center, and her photographic camera was missing the photographic film. Damn, it must have been Sailor Mercury, that was the one always using a computer, she guessed they didn't want pictures. She also noticed some money in her hand that wasn't before, more than enough to cover two rolls of film. Nabiki smiled, that Sailor Mercury, she was interesting.

The blue mist didn't reach the second floor, the cat monster seemed to be winning because since it was blind, the mist only served to make things harder for the blonde. Sailor moon got punched at least two times before Sailor Mercury came back and dispersed the mist. A guy in a tuxedo wearing a mask seemed to be watching, while trying in vain to hide behind a potted plant.

"Awesome work Mercury, that thing almost killed me!" The blonde seemed to be holding tears. The smart girl just ignored Sailor Moon and pulled out her Mercury computer out of nowhere.

"Keep fighting it, I need to find that creature weakness."

"But... it hurts!" Sailor Moon whined

"It will hurt more if we don't defeat it." A female cat said behind a trash can

Sailor moon pouted and tried to punch the monster, it dogged and kicked her to a wall. Just then a rose got clawed in the monster back, it screamed in pain.

"Of course, its a cat, cats have fragile backs." Mercury thought "Sailor moon, I will keep that thing busy, use your attack on that kitty back!"

Sailor moon silently nods, The Mercury computer disappeared in a blue flash and Mercury shouted to get the youma attention "Hey ugly kitty, did you mother drop you on your head when you were little?"

As the monster tried to hit Mercury, Mercury dogged with moves that seemed like a dance. Mercury had hated the ballet classes her mother had forced her to take, but it seemed like they were finally useful for something.

"Sailor moon, don't let your beauty be tarnished, prove the world you are stronger that you seem, go and defeat that monster!" said a male voice, Mercury mentally tuned out everything but Sailor moon, the terrain and the monster. She didn't mind that tuxedo guy help, but his speeches were horrible. She continued her battle dance with the evil feline, until the blonde screamed her attack and the tiara turned the youma into dust.

"Good work Sailor Moon, see what you can do when you stop whining and just focus on the monster?" Luna said, appearing from behind a trash can.

"But... but... I got a broken nail." The blonde said, both Mercury and Luna felt like slamming their heads to the wall. The guy in the Tuxedo approached Sailor moon, have her a rose, and then ran away. "He... he gave me a rose?" Sailor moon face was as red as a tomato.

Since the fight was over, Ranko had no reason to keep trying new clothes, Nodoka had also bought her some sexy lingerie, to the poor red head embarrassment. Finally Ranko convinced Nodoka to leave, Nodoka looked at the damage in the first floor surprised, "I guess some people from Nerima came here today."

"Really? So you didn't notice the Sailor Senshi where fighting a youma here?" Ranko could not believe how oblivious her auntie was. But it was ironic Ranko herself did not notice a fainted Kuno mere ten meters from where they were.

"OH, So thats why there was screaming? I thought it was some clothes discount."

Ranko simply smiled and hugged the older woman "I know you can't be that naive auntie, or are you?"

Nodoka grins hugging back "Really, I am not that naive, is just that well... I been alone for so long... I guess I developed some quirks."

Ranko decided to start his plan "You really miss Ranma, don't you?"

"Yes... that day, the day Genma took little Ranma out of me... I cried for hours, there was a hole in my heart."

"Well... that must suck." Ranko said "Are you really going with that contract? I mean Ranma was just a little boy, he probably didn't understand anything. What if your son ends not being what you want?"

"Is a matter of honor Ranko, you wouldn't understand."

"Honor? You are right, I don't understand." Ranko started to cry, why was she crying? Ranma Sotome wasn't a... girl? No, Ranko was a girl, maybe a fake one, but still a girl. It was ok to cry, it was needed for her plan. "I... I lost my parents... and here you... want to kill your son?"

"Ranko dear, I am sorry I didn't think that..."

"That's right! You didn't think!" Ranko screamed in fury and ran away, crying. Why was she so stupid? Like the plan had any chance to work at all, her mother was just as insane as her father was.

Nodoka was shocked, how could she had been so insensitive? The poor girl was hungry from love and affection, and here she was talking about killing her son if he wasn't a man among men. Poor Ranko had lost her family, Nodoka felt really angry with herself.

Ranko continued to run, why were her emotions such a mess? What was wrong with her? She was being a stupid weak girl, damn waterproof soap, she now wanted to be a man so bad. After all men were strong, men didn't cry. Despite that, she could not stop crying. She was so angry, so angry with her stupid dad. She didn't mind the fiancees, she didn't mind the debts, the training from hell, she didn't even mind the curse or the neko-ken. But her father had done one thing Ranko would never forgive as long as she lived, Genma Saotome had keep her away from her mother for ten long years. And then thanks to that stupid contract, made sure she would never tell her mother who she was, or risk being killed.

Ranko felt down, forcing herself to stop crying, ten years of her life, ten years without the love of a mother, and for what? For power? For the art? Other kids had a mommy that hugged them and cooked for them, a mother that dried their tears, a mother that was there when their son needed help. While Ranko would only get a shadow of that love, while lying at her mother and calling her aunt Nodoka.

After a while, she looked around, without knowing it, she had ended in front of she Shrine she had been earlier. "Hikawa Shrine" a sign said, so that was the name. It was very strange, why that place calmed her? It was like the place really was blessed by a Kami. Just being in front of it brought peace to her soul. She now understood why Ryoga had stayed there.

She entered the shrine, seeing an old short and bald man with Shinto priests robes. Ranko didn't want to go back with Nodoka right now, she didn't want to confess the real reason she had run away crying.

"Excuse me miss, are you ok?" asked the old man, Ranko couldn't help to notice that despite the calm and friendly face the pervert was staring at her breasts.

"Eh... yes... Is Ryoga Hibiki here? I am... a friend of him."

"Oh, so you are Ryoga girlfriend? Ranko, right?" The old man stared at her eyes and smiled

Wait a minute... Ryoga... girlfriend? Oh that's it! The lost boy was gonna get a beat down, the truce was over!

**AN2:** This is my first Fukufic . Please provide feedback. Spelling mistakes, things that don't make sense, etc. Please tell me what I should do to make this story better. How is the characterization? Is everyone reacting to the situations in ways believable for their character? The quality cannot improve if there is no feedback. The waterproof beauty soap is stolen from "Girls Days" like you don't already know that. I know canon Ami doesn't take ballet classes, but I have a reason for it.


	2. The girls from the Silver Millennium

**Thanks a lot to Hiryo from #fukufics for editing this chapter, you are the best!**

**AN1:** English is NOT my native language, thank you.

**Episode 02: The girls from the Silver Millennium**

"Ryoga Hibiki, I am NOT your girlfriend! Prepare to die!" Ranko looked at the boy, who was still wearing Shinto priest robes, with her eyes burning in fury.

The lost boy looked at her confused and shocked, for a few seconds he just stood there and then he smiled. Unlike almost every time Ryoga had fought with Ranma before, he was relaxed and Ranma was the one that was angry. "Bring it on girl!"

"I am NOT a girl!" Ranko started to attack Ryoga with a barrage of fast punches and kicks. Even trying his best at a pure defensive style, the lost boy only dodged or blocked half of the punches. But girl Ranma, was not as strong as boy Ranma, and Ryoga was using the Iron Cloth technique in his robes. It was easier to do in clothes you where wearing, and helped to make clothes strong as steel. While the technique was not usually used for defensive purposes due to the constant chi drain, Ryoga was doing it anyway. He didn't knew why, but Ranma wasn't fighting at his full potential, not only Ranma was fighting as a girl, she was fighting in a pure offensive style, leaving huge openings for him to strike back.

"Fight back! Don't think I will let you go easy on me cause of this stupid and weak body!" Ranko screamed and used Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken speed punches to hit Ryoga chest, creating holes in the robes. Ryoga changed tactics and started to focus his chi in his right arm, Ranma was so angry she didn't notice until Ryoga did an uppercut punch and sent her flying away.

"Pathetic, really... ouch!" Ryoga looked at his chest, Ranko had given him so many chi boosted punches there that it really hurt, but thankfully, he didn't have anything broken. He better went and continued the fight, now that Ranma was away of the temple, he didn't have to worry about the collateral damage.

Ranko landed in the middle of a lake, her angry chi making water evaporate from her body as soon as she reached the shore. Stupid Ryoga, how he dared not only to say he was her boyfriend, but also to hold back because she was in a girl body!

"Oh my red head goddess, the stars must favor me today because-"

Kuno speech was interrupted as Ranko gave Kuno an uppercut that sent him flying back to Nerima. Ranko then saw an amused Nabiki, eating an ice-cream cone.

"Go on, say it!" Ranko screamed, "I am weak, pathetic and girly!"

"Well Ranma, you are the one saying it, not me." Nabiki was wondering why Ranma seemed so angry, the angry chi the red head was emitting giving her trouble to keep her emotionless face.

"Go away, or I will hurt you, I am in a very bad mood."

"10.000 yen." Nabiki said extending her hand

Ranko stared at Nabiki with eyes full of hate "You are an ice witch, abusing everyone for profit! And right now, I don't care if you are a girl or not. GO AWAY!"

Ranma flared a red aura so strong that made Nabiki fall back, and she... ran away. She never before saw Ranma so angry, willing to kill, and it was really scary. Nabiki Tendo found herself running faster then even before, until she couldn't run anymore and she sat down in a park bench, crying. This wasn't like her, she was the Ice Queen of Furinkan High! She never showed her real emotions, she never let emotions control her, but she couldn't stop the tears falling from her eyes.

* * *

The red head was running, wet sand touching her naked feet, a monster chasing her. She used to have a family, she used to have friends, and the stupid war had taken everything away from her. She had refused to take sides and as they say, "If you are not with me, you are against me". She wanted to give up, just to let the monster tear her apart, but she couldn't, she would never forgive herself if she betrayed her dead friend trust. The chase had lasted hours, they where on an island, she couldn't run forever. The red head stopped and turned around, her hands started to glow, fire covering them. The golem tried to punch her, she jumped and launched a ball of fire from her hands. The monster didn't seem affected by it.

Her enemies where smart, but they where expecting to only fight magic, the fools.

The woman avoided another punch, stood in front of the rock creature, smiled and poked her finger into the monsters chest.

"Bakusai Tenketsu!"

The golem exploded into hundreds of pieces, some of the debris managed to hurt the woman. She used her magic fire to seal her wounds. She could not stop to rest and recover, she had a mission to do.

* * *

Ranma looked around confused, what the hell was that? She was sure that had never happened to her. Her aura had finally calmed down.

"Ranma! Our fight is not over!" Ryoga tried to give her a flying kick, Ranko was so distracted that she barely avoided the attack. Ryoga's kick leaving a big crater where she was standing. She didn't know how P-chan had found her, not with his sense of direction, but that strange vision had calmed her down. This time the roles where reversed, it was Ranko who was dodging or blocking attacks. Something was different, Ryoga was not angry, he seemed focused and calm, should she insult him? Well, it was what she usually did, plus Ryoga was easier to defeat when he was angry.

"Hey P-chan, how you found me? Did you have a boy scout lead you?"

"You Chi was so strong just a few moments ago that you lead me like a moth to flame! That's the best insult you got weak girl?"

"Who are you calling weak girl pork butt?" Ranko started to collect Chi in her hands

"Bakusai Tenketsu!"

She had to move away as the ground next to her exploded and a dust cloud was formed. Next thing she knew she was barely dodging a punch to her back, she turned around and stared at the lost boy.

"You are hitting girls in the back now piglet?"

"You told me to not hold back, or you aren't a man?"

"I am a man!" Once more Ranko started to gather Chi for a Moko Takabisha, but the result was just a poof of smoke. Her head was too messed up for some reason, she couldn't gather enough confidence.

"You really fight like a girl! Shishi Hokodan!" Ryoga tried to use his own Chi attack but he also got only a puff of smoke. Both fighters stared at each other in confusion.

"Say... why we where fighting?" Ranko felt this was quite strange, why where her emotions so easily shifting? Was it some girl thing she didn't knew about? And why she was felling pain all over her body? It was because a youma had drained her the other day?

"Well..." Ryoga scratched the back of his head. "Maybe we could continue our fight when... you are not on that time of the month?"

"WHAT?"

"Look Ranma, is perfectly normal for a girl to... ya know?" Ryoga was blushing, he looked so pathetic it was hard not to pity him.

"Know what?" Ranma seemed confused

"Well, you see... maybe you could lead me back to the temple and I could explain things to you? I... I don't feel comfortable talking about this kind of stuff in a public place. "

"Ok." Ranma was just too curious to ignore the offer, she had to force Ryoga to change directions several times, as she led him back to the Shrine.

"So... ehh what was that about you not being my girlfriend? You are cute as a girl, but it will be a cold day in hell before we are dating!" Ryoga asked, trying not to look at Ranko's chest. Once again, the girl clothes where soaked, and that marked... certain attributes. No wonder he couldn't do the Shishi Hokodan.

"Well... hey don't change the subject! Explain me about that time of the month stuff already!"

"Eh... why don't you phone Kasumi and ask her? It's... a girls thing, I will even you give the coins so you can use the public phone in the shrine, ok?"

After getting the change, Ranko did indeed phone Kasumi and asked her what that time of the month thing was. Ryoga was smart enough to get lost before Ranma yells could be heard all around the temple. Yes, Hokkaido was so nice this time of the year...

* * *

Meanwhile, a woman with long green hair was looking over what it looked like the typical mad scientist lab. There where large test tubes and lots of weird looking equipment, weird in the sense it seemed to be made of... living things. The woman was dressed in a black business suit, and her eyes where of an unnatural golden color. She opened a door and went to the basement of the lab, where a guy wearing a purple tuxedo and a black crow mask was waiting for her. He had long pink hair and red eyes.

"You where right Purple Crow, taking over the lady of time has been quite fun. Every day I get more control, and the body feels more and more comfortable." Said the green haired woman. "However, even after altering the timeline to make sure Sailor Mars star seed had been destroyed... "

"There seems to be a problem." Said the man know as Purple Crow, of course there would be a problem, he and "gold eyes" would not even exist if it wasn't because of one of those problems.

"Yes, the abnormality known as Ranma Saotome will be likely become a new Sailor Mars. It seems he is descendant of the one known as the Burning Rose."

"The Burning Rose? HER?" A pink aura flared around the man in the tuxedo "How can it be? I made sure nothing was left of that witch!"

"As you know, altering a timeline seems to have some... side-effects. Even if you and I are out of the normal flow of time thanks to the Gates of Time, those side-effects still exist." The green haired woman body flared with a strange mix of golden and green battle aura. "And I must remind you, it's me who keeps both of us out of time, if you try to hurt me, well..."

Purple Crow cursed himself, he should have been the one who took over the lady of time, not that golden eyes monster. But Purple Crow could never renounce his beautiful body to become a woman. After all, what was the power over time itself, if he had to renounce his perfect body?

"Very well, but how you plan to get rid of Saotome? Any attempt to erase him from the timeline doesn't work and any enemy we sent after him just ends making him stronger. And we can't even just give him a happy life away of trouble, as he is a chaos magnet."

"Well... " The green haired woman said "If destiny wants him to become Sailor Mars so bad, we just have to make sure that's in a way that will make him enemy of the Senshi."

"Mmm, there is a problem with that." Purple Crow said rubbing his chin "The guy is not a killer, and there seems to be some sort of holy power protecting him since he arrived to Juuban. I can't even get close to him without feeling like I am being burned alive."

"Oh I know about that, but it can be easily fixed...after all Setsuna Meioh is a very resourceful woman."

Purple Crow did not like the grin in the golden eyed monsters face. He had seen it before, when the real Lady of Time had been planning to do something evil. "Absolutely not! I will not let you ruin my perfect body!"

"Oh well, too bad." The woman who called herself Setsuna Meioh pouted "How can you fight the Senshi and ensure the future we want if you won't be able to be around Sailor Mars?"

"I will just let the youma handle them as usual, Sailor Mercury seems to be making progress, she seems skilled at dodging."

"Yes, I admit both Mercury and Moon seem to be getting more skilled in this timeline, but not enough. For our plan to work, they need to... Oh, why I was so blind? It's perfect!"

"What?" Asked the purple tuxedo man. "You can't be thinking in... doing that! You know how messed up the timeline gets when you do that!"

"Relax, I am sure this time it will work. And if it doesn't, we are still out of the normal flow of time, we can just keep trying, right?"

"Not if the Gate of Time gets locked, and this body you are wearing almost killed me. It seems every new timeline gets a stronger Lady of Time, she attacked you as soon as she saw your golden eyes. We can't afford more failures."

Suddenly, Purple Crow's body felt the warm embrace of the woman in front of him, "I am sorry, it's my fault, I was careless. You still love me, don't you? Even if I had to lose my real body for our plans to work? You know I love you, no matter what."

Purple Crow felt himself blushing under the mask, he had to admit that at least the body the monster was using was attractive. But there was no time for this, they could not get distracted with stupid things like love. This was probably the last chance they had to set things right, if they failed, then the new timeline's Sailor Pluto would kill them both."

"Very well Setsuna Meioh, I authorize you to carry out the plans necessary to make sure Ranma Saotome becomes enemy of the Senshi, as long as they don't involve changing my perfect body."

"Yes my King." The woman bows and teleports away in a flash of green energy.

With the golden eyed monster out of the way, Purple crow could return to doing important things, like playing Tetris in his portable computer.

* * *

The pigtailed young woman tried to relax herself in the bathtub, she was back to aunt Nodoka house. She had simply told her that she was in her period and she needed... sanitary pads. No way she was gonna wear a tampon, she was a man dammit!

She had been a girl so much lately, no wonder she... Ranko started to cry. Damn stupid female hormones! The damn curse would probably force her to be stuck as a girl until her period was over. Still, this explained a few things, like those days Akane was way more irritable than usual, the few days a month Nabiki became emotional and hugged her big sister. And that once in a while Kasumi said she had a headache and forced the rest of the family to cook and do the chores.

This was not going to defeat her, Ranma Saotome never surrenders! Besides, if she went back to the Tendo Dojo now, the teasing would drive her insane. She saw the tub water starting to gain some red... time to get out. Once she dried herself, she open the bathroom cabinet, took one of those... things. And read the instructions. She put a towel around her waist, another smaller one on her head then went to the guest room. She changed herself and used the pad. It was a bit uncomfortable, but it would have to do.

Trying to calm herself down, and because meditating with that damn thing down there would be impossible, Ranko let herself relax in the bed. She started to think how she could kill one of those youma without magic. The Hiryu Shoten Ha would work, as most of the damage it did was based on the contrast of hot and cold air, not in chi. The air blades of the Yama-Sen Ken would work too. The problem was that the Hiryu Shoten Ha required her to dodge and all those monsters had to do to drain her chi was to touch her and that the Yama-Sen was sealed.

Wait! What if she used a derivate of the Yama-Sen Ken, like using a weapon to do the Kijin Raishu Dan? That would be different enough to be another technique, and only her dad or Ryu would notice it was based on it. A blade weapon would probably be good to create air blades, the problem was the Yama-Sen Ken was a quite difficult technique. It was true Ranma had mastered the Umi-Sen Ken, but that was because it was basically a combination of attacking the opponent from where it could not see you, moving fast and soul of ice. All those things Ranma already knew how to do even before he started his Umi-Sen training. The Yama-Sen Ken required a very fine chi control, and it was a brutal and front assault style that would fit more to Ryoga than herself. Ranma style of fighting relied more on speed, quick thinking and taunting, plus using anything she could do to win.

And why did she want to beat up youma so much? Was it because she was taking the youma as a challenge, as an opponent she had to defeat? Or was it the fact that her style of fighting relied in using chi and that made the youma like water to fire for her? No, there was something else. Those girls, they had no training, yet they where risking their lives to kill monsters that could drain chi and kill a lot of people. She wanted to help them, there was no way she could give them the more than ten years of training she had, and most of her techniques would be useless to fight youma. But if she could at least teach them the basics of fighting, then it was less likely those two girls would end dead.

Ranko was a fighter and a student, not a Sensei. How could she make the girls accept her help? Is not like she could casually approach them while they where fighting a youma and offer training. But, if he was able to beat a youma on her own, then she would have respect, then they would listen to her. Or... she could just let it go. Those girls had been doing this for some time, is not like the martial arts code to defend the helpless applied to those two anyway. Then Ranko remembered the Hiryu Shoten Ha training. Even if it was for selfish reasons, she had people that had been there to help her. Ryoga... Ukyo, they all had done their best to help her, heck even Akane did her part. Wasn't this like that time? Only this time she was the one who could help. Wasn't that the manly thing to do after all? Well maybe it was the damn period messing with her mind, but she would at least give it a try.

Meanwhile, Ryoga Hibiki found himself in front of the Tendo Dojo, with his luck, he guessed that the only time he was not particularly interested in going there, he would just end going there. Trying to run away usually ended with him ending right back in the Dojo or in Akane's school.

"Akane..." He said practicing in front of the door. "Akane... you are a beautiful and kind girl. I... I have something to tell you. I been in a temple for a while and.. Master Hino told me that... ah dammit this is so hard!"

The door opened and Ryoga Hibiki found a confused Akane looking at him "Hi Ryoga, what are you doing here? What's what you want to tell me? And why are you dressed like that, are you a priest now?"

"Uh ehh... have you..." Ryoga was so nervous he said the first thing that came to his mind. "Do you know that Ranma got her first period as a girl?"

"WHAT?"

"Uh... I mean... isn't that P-chan over there?" While Akane looked behind her, Ryoga hid his backpack behind a bush and jumped at the Koi pond in front of the house.

"Ryoga I don't see P-chan... what are you doing there?" Akane watched a wet Ryoga standing in the middle of the Koi pond, who looked confused.

"Oh I am sorry, I was eh... " Ryoga wondered why he didn't change into a pig, then remembered he had took a bath early in the morning, and that he had used a pink soap... it must have been Ranma's waterproof soap. "I was supposed to... turn into P-chan..."

"YOU WHAT?" Akane was really angry now, only one thing left to do. Ryoga closed his eyes and silently prayed to the heavens.

"Yes, I got a Jusenkyo curse. I turn into P-chan with cold water and turn back to myself with hot water. " While Ryoga knew this would ruin whatever chance he had to be Akane's boyfriend, he also felt like a great weight was lift from his shoulders.

"YOU... YOU PERVERT!" Akane's mallet made Ryoga fly into the air, he hoped to land somewhere soft and that they will send back his backpack. With his luck, it meant he was probably gonna land into broken glass and that Nabiki would sell his backpack for money.

Akane Tendo just stood there, the mallet gone, she was breathing hard and crying "P-chan... Ryoga was P-chan... How I could have been so blind? The clues where all there, the headband, that dumb drawing both P-chan and Ryoga had..."

* * *

The red head traveled back to the moon. It was a beautiful kingdom, but it was all magic, without it, all life in the moon would probably die. She was not impressed like when she was a mere child, it was a waste of power, and she wasn't there to admire the view.

Her father had married, had other daughters, and he didn't even dare to see her. She guessed that's what she could expect from having running away when she was ten years old, but she blamed her father for never taking in consideration what she wanted. She wasn't gonna be a lady, forced to marry someone only because her dad told her to. Since the first time she saw two of the Joketsuzoku doing a practice match in their hidden village, she knew she wanted to be like them. Maybe she was irked that her father never tried to get her back when she ran away to the proud warrior's women village. But she was not an official daughter for him, just some trash he had adopted to cover a scandal.

The red head felt proud despite the rejection, she had made a name for herself, the Burning Rose, the Sage of Fire. She found strange that the Queen wanted her talent. Didn't the Moon kingdom have the best mages in all the galaxy? All she could use was mere fire after all. She tried to excuse herself, planning to escape as soon as she could, but Queen Serenity asked her to stay. And for some reason it was very hard to say no to that woman.

The Burning Rose found herself training five girls in the path of fire and in combat, but she kept the secret techniques of the Joketsuzoku to herself. She soon found out those girls where of the House of Mars, like her father. But they weren't her sisters, they where her cousins. Because they where the daughters of the Princess of Mars, they where trained to become Senshi, but only one of them would make it. After all, there was only one Senshi for each planet, so there could only be one Sailor Mars.

Eventually, the eldest of the girls was chosen, "Sensei Rose" as they called her, saw it as a logical choice, Raven was not only her best pupil, she also had psychic and spiritual powers unlike the others. She had always felt a strange connection with the girl, she almost thought of running away with her, save her of the life of a warrior that the Queen had destined for her. But she knew it was a futile dream, not because she couldn't do it, but because the black haired girl would never accept it.

"Raven... I will miss you." Rose hugged the black haired girl, the girl hugged back.

"I will miss you too aunt Ranma." Ranma Saotome stared at the girl with long black hair and violet eyes in shock.

* * *

Ranko woke up sweating, her body was so damn hot, and it was like she had a fire inside her. She forced herself to calm down and put her mind in a blank state, and then she imagined a cold winter void of all emotion. Ranko's body temperature soon returned to normal and she looked at the watch in the wall, she had been asleep only for ten minutes. The pad was ruined, grumbling, she went to the bathroom and changed it for a fresh one.

She was damn sure those... Memories? Dreams? Weren't happening because of her period. Why was this happening? Was she possessed? It won't be the first time. But the girl in those visions was clearly her female self, even if it was older looking. At least that girl was a warrior, an Amazon, a sensei, those things Ranko could respect. Nothing about silly dresses, boys or doing girly things. In fact from what little she knew, "Rose" had run away of the life of a girly princess. Maybe it was her mind imagining what kind of girl she would like to be?

No! She wasn't a girl dammit! She was...

"Oh shut up about that! It's annoying!"

What the heck was that? Ranko just heard a voice in her head, it sounded a bit like her girl voice, but that voice definitively was that of an adult woman, not that of a girl.

"Look Ranma or Ranko whatever. First of all, I am sorry about this, ok?"

"Who the hell are you? Get out of my head!" Ranko screamed, and then covered her mouth, the last thing she needed was aunt Nodoka taking Ranko to a shrink.

"Calm down, and don't scream things, think them. I am not here to be your enemy. In fact, I might be able to help you. And about who I am, they call me The Burning Rose."

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Ranko thought.

"Not happening, 'cause you see, this is also my head. And don't think I wanted this, ok? Now please try to calm down before aunt Nodoka takes us to the shrink."

Ranko had to swallow her pride and silently agreed, if this was some kind of ghost she should just help the ghost and then she would be free.

"Good. Now, I will try to keep this short and simple. I am the memory of one of your past lives, and I am a tomboy. I am here to help you, not to be your enemy. Got it brat?"

"Don't call me brat!" Ranko thought "And what makes you think I need your help?"

"Well mister Ranma Saotome, didn't you want to find a way to kill youma?"

That caught Ranko's interest, she remembered The Burning Rose using fire magic, if Ranko could do the same, and she would have no trouble killing youma. But power was never free, she should be careful about this.

"And what will you get out of helping me?"

"Well... you won't like it. In fact let's forget about it, you are too weak and pathetic to do it."

"What? I am not weak and pathetic, bring it on, I can do it!"

"Uhh... you see, I am just something your mind created to avoid getting insane for getting two different set of memories. Some of the memories are painful, others you will find very uncomfortable. You will have to let me slowly give you these memories of your past life as The Burning Rose. You have to accept them, we don't have time to train you to use magic, that takes years in the best of cases."

"No way I am letting you turn me into a girl!"

"See? Told ya. You can't do it, you are just too weak."

Ranko was angry, her damn pride won't let her go back in her offer, but there was no way she would let Rose turn her into a girl. There had to be a way to get magic powers without that.

"Those memories, Will they change who I am? Will they make me a girl?"

"They are just memories, is up to you to be what you want to be. But there is magic involved in this, the first time you remember something, it would be as if you really had done it. I lived a lot longer than you did brat, there is the risk my memories will influence you. The best you can hope is find a middle ground, take the best of both of them."

"Why should I do it? Why risk losing myself for power?" That was a question more for Ranko herself than for Rose. Sometimes the price for power was too great, she remembered the Neko-ken training and she got nervous.

"Look, if I could just give you the memories needed to do magic and nothing else I would do it, but that isn't the way it works. I could also take temporal control of your body as another personality and make you use magic that way, but that wouldn't be nice. It's up to you Ranma, is the power worth the risk? Only yourself can answer that question."

No, it wasn't, there was just too much to lose. She didn't have any real reason for getting magic powers. Helping those girls was the right thing to do but she didn't know them. If it had been to save Akane or Ukyo life... maybe she would have done it. But this wasn't personal and what if even after killing a youma with awesome fire powers the girls rejected her? Or if they accepted her but didn't want to do any training?

"Hey, Rose... do you have any idea of why I want to help the Sailor Senshi?"

"Finally a smart question brat. You see, we knew them, in fact we trained one of them."

"I hope you are referring to other Senshi and not those two. Those girls fighting style is just pathetic."

"No, the one we trained... she got killed in a way that prevented reincarnation. My little Raven... Why couldn't I save you? It should have been me, I should have been there."

Ranko could feel the sadness in Rose's voice, Rose had loved Raven like a mother loves her daughter.

"So, that's why I want to help? Because... because you don't want another Senshi to die?"

"Yes, but it's my burden, not yours. You have your own life Ranma Saotome, it's not fair for me to risk your mind. 'Specially not with... what will happen if you decide you prefer being a girl."

"You mean that damn contract? Why did she do it? Why did my mother did such a stupid thing?"

"Women do a lot of stupid things for the ones they love Ranma. Your mother sees that contract as an extension of the love she has for you, she is one of those who prefer honor before reason. And yes, is still stupid!"

"Uh... can't you help me to make her change her mind?"

"I was never a mother Ranko-chan and I was never very sociable. Sorry, but this is one thing you will have to do on your own. Well, I guess I will go back to some quiet place of your mind, and don't bother you again."

"Wait!"

"Now what?"

"I... I honestly don't wanna be a girl but maybe you and me could be... friends? And that whole taking control of my body thing doesn't sound so bad if you ask for permission first. After all, you are a Martial Artist too, right? You won't make me look too bad while fighting youma."

"So, let me get this right. You are willing to let me a woman, fight your battles?"

"If you put it that way, it sounds bad, but you are a tomboy. And even if I hate to admit it, when I have these..." Ranko touched her breasts. "I am technically a girl. Just don't do anything too girly to make me look bad."

"You know, that sexy ninja outfit Nodoka bought you for a costume party would look nice."

"What? No way, I don't want perverts looking at my-"

"Ranko-chan..."

"What?"

"There is nothing bad with looking sexy and didn't you said you where a cute tomboy anyway?"

"No, just no. Can't you use something... less revealing?"

"We don't have much money Ranko-chan, and that's the only costume we have. It also covers your face. And wearing that costume, most people won't be looking at our face anyway."

"Ah fine! Why I am even doing this?"

"You are too nice for your own good Ranko-chan. Besides, who doesn't want to be a hero?"

"I don't want to be a hero, much less a magical ninja girl. But... I am too damn prideful, and I would never forgive myself if I let someone die. We have the power to save people, we should use it. And why the hell I am talking to you like you where my best friend about things I don't even tell Ukyo about?"

"That's because technically, you are talking with yourself. There is no risk of humiliation unless they catch you talking your thoughts out."

* * *

Water, chemical formula H2O. Water is the most common liquid on Earth and covers about 70 % of the Earth. Water is very important for life, yet humans waste it, poison it, they don't respect it.

She was Sailor Mercury, the Senshi of water, the ironic thing is, she didn't know how to swim. She knew how to dance, in fact, she was dancing, she would have preferred to swim but her mother didn't let her. Her mother was scared of water, she had been on a boat accident, the only survivor, back then she was two months pregnant. Ami Mizuno could understand her mother fear, in fact, she could understand many things people of her age could not, and she was a genius.

People shunned her because of her intelligence, she didn't used to have any friends, girls hated her for being "perfect" and stealing the boy's attention, boys hated her for being better than them, their male ego simply could not accept a smart girl. Her shyness was also a barrier, she was scared of making mistakes, after all being alone was easier than trying to make friends and end hurt or humiliated.

That had changed about a month ago. It had been the day she became a Senshi, the day she became Sailor Mercury. Ami Mizuno was shy and quiet, smart and polite, she knew how to cook and did it well. She was the perfect girl every parent wants, the girl everyone wants their son to marry. Sailor Mercury was a different deal, she was strong, she was fast, and she did what had to be done and was full of confidence. Sailor Mercury's abilities made her the support member of Team Senshi, she had no offensive attacks, but that didn't bother her. It was thanks to her ability to analyze the enemy and find weak points that the battles where won.

Then, there was the blonde, her first friend, Usagi Tsukino. If Ami was the perfect girl, then Usagi was the klutz girl. Usagi was lazy, she hated to study, was usually late to school, she was also a crybaby and hated to fight. The ironic thing is, she was the attack member of team Senshi. Usagi was also the first Senshi, having become Sailor Moon two months ago. How she was able to win any battle before Ami arrived to the team was nothing short of a miracle. From what Ami had learned talking to Luna, Usagi had won these battles by a combination of luck, the fact the monsters had done something that really annoyed Usagi and the encouraging words of the Tuxedo guy.

Also back then, the monsters didn't attack every day, it was very rare to have two monsters attack the same week. So Usagi had only fought five youma before Ami joined the team. It was a good thing she had become a part of team Senshi, because about three weeks ago youma started to attack every day. If summer hadn't started only a week later, they would have been overwhelmed. But summer won't last forever, they need help.

Luna had said there where other Senshi, but due to the holes in her memory, she had no idea who they where. Ami had deduced that there where at least six Senshi, Five Senshi for the Inner Planets and one Senshi for the moon. Was that strange red head girl one of the Senshi they still had to find? She hoped that she was, that girl knew how to fight, and a close combat member would do wonders for team Senshi.

The ballet class finally ended, time to go to Usagi's home. The blonde would be probably playing videogames with Naru Osaka, who had become Ami's second friend. The poor girl seemed to be a youma magnet, half the time she was present when youma attacked. Usagi had wanted to tell her about being a Senshi, but Luna would not let her. It was the logical choice, knowing who the Senshi where was not only a security risk, it would also put the girl in even more danger. Also, the girl was the number one Sailor Moon fan. In the last month, lots of Sailor Moon merchandise had appeared out of nowhere, magazines, toys videogames, they where marketing them and they didn't get even a single yen out of it. Lately, even Sailor Mercury merchandize had started to appear, in a way, it made her feel good.

The Osaka family seemed to have money, at least enough money for Naru to buy tons of Sailor Moon stuff. It was a pity team Senshi had to remain anonymous, Meioh Enterprises seemed to have turned the Senshi into their newest cash cow. More than once Ami had to retrain herself to avoid going to Meioh Enterprises' main building as Sailor Mercury and give them a piece of her mind.

As she entered Usagi room, both the blonde and Naru where looking at the newest teen magazine. This time it had Sailor Moon in the cover, and it looked like Usagi had posed for it! The klutz sure got her and Luna lots of trouble, what the hell was she thinking? OH who was she kidding, Usagi wasn't thinking, that was the blonde biggest problem.

"Usagi-chan, may I please talk to you for a moment in private?" Ami said, Usagi saw the looks in her friend face and knew she was in trouble.

* * *

Life wasn't fair, summer was supposed to be fun! Instead, she was wasting it fighting horrible monsters, that weren't her idea of a good summer. It was bad enough when Luna was the only one nagging her, but now it was Ami too! At first being Sailor Moon wasn't so bad, she saved people, she looked sexy, and the monsters didn't attack everyday. But now... she was tired of all this. OH, how she wanted to put an adhesive bandage over Luna's moon symbol, put her in a cage, and take a few days off! But she couldn't, if she wasn't Sailor Moon people would get hurt, people would die. Ami didn't have any attack that could kill youma, so it was up to her to save the day.

Was it so bad to want some thanks? To get some praise? To stay after a battle was over and sign some autographs? But she couldn't do that, could she? Because the Senshi saved people lives but vigilantism was illegal in Japan. Both Luna and Ami had explained it to her so many times that she knew it from memory. Then, a week ago, she had to fight a monster alone because Ami was with her mother and Usagi didn't want to bug her. It was very rare for Ami to spend some time with her mother, so she was a good friend and fought the monster alone. It was a hard fight, she almost died! Then, after the fight was over, a photographer had approached her, asking for an interview, Luna wasn't there to nag her, and so she decided to do it. Just a few pics, answer a few questions, and she was done. She even donated the money she got from it to charity, and she wanted the new Sailor V videogame so bad! But, now here was Ami, getting angry at her for posing for a few pictures.

"Why? Don't you understand that-"

"No, I don't understand! Was it so bad to get a few pictures taken? Yes, it could have been a trap of the Dark Kingdom, but it wasn't. Why is it so bad that people get to know us? Maybe if they get to know the Sailor Senshi well they will let us kill youma and we wouldn't have to run away from the police!"

Usagi-chan started to cry, Ami hugged her. "I... I am sorry, I know it has been hard. For me being a Senshi has been the best thing of my life. Because... because you became my friend Usagi-chan and Naru became my friend too. Before I was so sad, I was so alone. I know you hate this, it has become a burden. I am sorry if you sometimes feel I am too hard on you, I... I don't want to hurt you."

Usagi then smiled, her tears gone. "Was that so hard to say? We are friends Ami-chan, I know I will never be the Senshi you and Luna want me to be, but I try the best I can. You are a genius Ami-chan, I am sure you can think a way to make us official, I am tired of escaping the cops."

What, what just happened? Most of the time, Usagi was a disaster, but then came moments like this, it made Luna feel proud of Sailor Moon. Thanks to the good hearing she had for being a cat, the feline had been listening to the private conversation while Naru played a videogame alone.

"Yes, we could be official youma hunters or something! And then I would be a celebrity for real, and appear on TV, and get my own videogame and..."

And just like that, Luna let herself fall flat on the couch, that girl was hopeless!

**AN2:** Ranma is a bad student, not only he tends to arrive late, he has missed years of classes due to his ten year training trip. And even after arriving to Japan, he keeps missing classes due to training trips and rescuing Akane. So yes, is perfectly logical that he missed the obligatory sexual education classes. I needed a Silver Millennium name for Rei Hino, and Raven made a lot of sense, not only because Raye is her dub name in English adaptations, but also because of Sailor Mars pet crows Phobos and Deimos. And no, she is not the Raven from Teen Titans, even if that would be awesome. What will happen with Ryoga now that Akane knows his secret? Where will the lost boy land? (I accept suggestions about that).

**AN3:** Please provide feedback. Spelling mistakes, things that don't make sense, etc. Please tell me what I should do to make this story better. How is the characterization? Is everyone reacting to the situations in ways believable for their character? The quality cannot improve if there is no feedback.


	3. The Girl, The Kitsune And the Gates

_This is my first Fukufic . Please provide feedback. Spelling mistakes, things that don't make sense, etc. Please tell me what I should do to make this story better. How is the characterization? Is everyone reacting to the situations in ways believable for their character? The quality cannot improve if there is no feedback._

**Hiryo from #fukufics edited this chapter, ain't he cool or what?**

**AN1: **English is NOT my native language, thank you.

**Episode 03: The Girl, The Kitsune And the Gates  
**

Ranko tested how she looked in the black ninja outfit, it was designed to show off cleavage and had a short skirt. To prevent showing anything Ranko was wearing a red one piece swimsuit underneath. The only "ninja" about the costume was the mask, which covered all but her eyes.

"Oh yeah, we look good." Rose's voice said in Ranko head, that annoyed her.

"Look, I don't like this stupid costume, I am just wearing it, 'cause it's the only thing we got for the job." But despite herself, Ranko had to admit that the costume was very distracting, even wearing the one piece under it. Rose was right, not many people would be looking at her face.

"You are so prude! Anyway, who do you think would like to have fun with your girl side more, Akane or Ukyo?"

"What the hell does this have to do with our training?" Ranko face was blushing deep red.

"Well, can't I have some fun too? Personally I prefer Ukyo, Akane needs to grow up and stop acting so angry about everything."

"Again, why the hell are we talking about this?" This sure wasn't Ranma Saotome's day, having her first period, and with a perverted female personality talking to her.

"Someday, you will have to choose. And let's face it, with our luck with water, we should pick a girl that at least doesn't mind sleeping in the same bed with a certain redhead."

"If I knew you were such a pervert I would have never agreed for this whole ninja magical girl thing!" Ranko found herself imagining her naked girl form hugging a naked Ukyo, dammit! Why she had to find girl on girl so hot? Well at least even Ranko knew most guys found that hot, so at least it wasn't a girly thought.

"Ranko-chan, as I said I don't want this, but everything happens for a reason. For example, why do you think you keep referring to yourself as Ranko when you are female?"

"So I don't slip up and call myself Ranma in front of my mother!"

"While that's a very good reason, the real reason is that's a way of denial. Ranma Saotome is a man among men, not a girly girl! Ranko is the one having a period, not Ranma!"

"Great, so I am going insane?"

"Not quite, denial is not the same as insanity, unless you take it to the extremes Kodachi and Kuno do."

"Oh god, please, if I ever get that bad, make me get help and fast!"

"Don't worry, I will. Now, since you aren't used to have a period, can I take over for a few minutes? I want to see if we can at least fight."

"Fine, but just five minutes."

Ranko found herself looking at everything like she was in some kind of dream, her body was moving, but she wasn't the one doing it. The redhead body winked in front of the mirror and did a few sexy poses, probably just to embarrass Ranko. She then said, "Man, I am a hot babe!" then held an open palm and created a small fireball. She held the fireball for a few minutes, and then it faded away. Ranko found herself again in control of her own body, the dream like sensation disappearing.

"So, how was it?" Ranko asked.

"Using your body was weird, it felt all stiff and uncomfortable. But I think that with a few days of practice I can get the hang of it. Did you feel anything when I created the fireball?"

"No, it was like a dream for me, hearing and seeing things, but not much else."

"Well at least you were somewhat conscious, do you remember everything I did?"

"Yes, you acted sexy in front of the mirror, said you were hot and then created a fireball."

"Good, I need to take over for using magic but at least you will know what I did while using your body."

"So, what's next?"

"We do some girls talk with auntie Nodoka! But not dressed like this, I want to wear pants."

"I was starting to think you lied about being a tomboy, but do I really have to do the girly talk?"

"We have to, Ranko is a tomboy but a nice girl, remember?"

Ranko groaned, changed clothes and went to talk with her mother, this whole deal about going to Juuban was turning out to be one of her worst ideas.

* * *

Setsuna Meioh was watching the Gates of Time, they were frozen in a single moment. Just before Ryoga Hibiki, with his eyes closed, was hit by a big mallet by Akane Tendo, and sent flying. The lady of Time wasn't almighty, she was able to change things, but only small things. Make a person wake up late, miss a train, make you forget were you left the damn keys, and stuff like that. But, thanks to trial and error, doing these small things, she could archive big outcomes. When that wasn't enough, she was forced to interfere in a more direct and personal way. In most of the possible universes that had a Sailor Pluto in it, Setsuna Meioh was obsessed with a single thing: A future were a girl named Usagi became Neo Queen Serenity and ruled the world. But this wasn't the regular Sailor Pluto, she was possessed by a creature known as "Golden eyes" so this Lady of Time objectives were a bit different.

Right now, Setsuna was thinking what she would do with the lost boy, since she could change the trajectory of were the mallet would sent him flying. Should the boy end in a women bath or locker room and be chased as a pervert? Should he land in the sea or a river and run away from being eaten? Should he get the Amazon girl Shampoo angry and have a serious treat of being killed? Maybe she could make him land in the Japanese spring of drowned girl, which was one of her favourites.

But this time, Setsuna wasn't so sure she wanted to make Ryoga's life miserable, because the boy had done something that she found noble. Ryoga had just admitted to Akane that he was P-chan. He could have just lied, that girl was dense as a brick when it came to get clues. She guessed that the two weeks the lost boy had stayed at the Hikawa Shrine and the advice of Master Hino had made Ryoga a better person. Ryoga's life was usually bad, but usually it tended to be his own damn fault. Had he not chased after Ranma for a stupid childish feud, he would not have been cursed. If he had not been cursed, he would not live "hell" as P-chan and so on. She could not fix Ryoga's sense of direction, or cure his curse, only replace his curse with another one. So, what could she do to make the lost boy life better?

A wide grin crossed the face of the Lady of Time, she waved her staff and Ryoga was hit by Akane's mallet. The lost boy was sent flying to an old shrine that was planned to be demolished to make apartments. Ryoga crashed trough the old rotten wood roof, and over a terracotta Buddha statue, covered in ancient and worn down paper seals, breaking it. A silver mist started to pour out from the broken statue and formed into a five year old girl with silver hair, green eyes, and wearing a traditional white kimono. The girl had gray fox ears over the top of her head.

Ryoga looked around confused "Uh, were the hell am I?" then he noticed the small girl. "Hi, I am lost." Ryoga took out a map of Texas written in Chinese from his pocket "Could you please tell me how to get to the Hikawa Shrine in Juuban?"

"You are funny big brother!" The small girl said in Chinese and hugged Ryoga, making the lost boy even more confused than usual.

"I am not your big brother!" Ryoga responded also in Chinese, after all his travels he had learned the basics of the language. He then noticed that the girl had fox ears and tried to run away, but the cute small girl tackled him. Then she touched her glowing right hand over Ryoga's forehead, the lost boy was paralysed for a few minutes but he felt no pain.

"My name is Yin Hu Tian, but you can call me Kiseki!" The girl said in Japanese "Now big brother, you wanted to go to the Hikawa Shrine in Juuban, right? Kiseki will help big brother!"

Ryoga was no longer paralysed, but before he could protest, the small girl picked him up as if he weighted nothing and started to run. She couldn't get the direction to the shrine because she had read the lost boy's mind and he had no sense of direction, but she could always ask around. It was so fun to have a big brother again, maybe she could make friends in Juuban? It was very exiting!

* * *

Purple Crow was in his lab, making sure nothing was going to blow up anytime soon. The place did barely fit his needs and the leftover machines from the previous mad scientist were a bit creepy, but he was only five blocks away from an all-you-can-eat buffet and that was what it counted.

He looked in front of a silver mirror and said a single word "Jadeite." The image of the blond dark general appeared in the mirror and Purple Crow took his form. He then teleported to the Dark Kingdom Omega base, a fortress situated in the North Pole. There was another base, The Dark Kingdom Alpha base situated at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean under Antarctica. The Omega base had been his creation, an idea that took two years to create and did take a year for Queen Beryl approval. But thanks to his replacing Jadeite and that great amount of energy he had provided the Queen with, he had it his way.

The three remaining dark generals did not know of it but the base was the key to his success. It was his youma factory, were his powerful but short lived youma were created. Only he and Beryl could enter it, but if Beryl got the idea to get rid of Jadeite" in his own base, she would be killed and replaced by a copy. The only reason Purple Crow didn't replace Beryl already is because her connection to Queen Metalia, plus if she died the three other dark generals would be free of her control. Thanks to his innovative youma design, the energy was sent right to the base as soon as Sailor Moon appeared to fight the youma. Then haft of it was sent right to Beryl so she could do as she pleased with it. Beryl didn't know Purple Crow was keeping half of the energy, she just thought the "Instant youma" drew half of the energy they really did. But since the Jadeite had been able to get energy everyday, she wasn't complaining. The factory had started to go into full production three weeks ago, but even facing a youma a day the Senshi still keep going. That was good, their plan required the Senshi to be strong after all, even if the original intent was for other Senshi just to appear sooner. While "instant youma" only lasted a day, they had amazing chi absorbing abilities. That more than compensated the fact they were totally salvage and would attack everyone, even other Instant youma.

Well, it was time to check the progress of his prisoner, it had been over a month and he would be useless for his plans if he died. Purple Crow checked to make sure Beryl would not come today and went into the prison chamber. Once there he teleported to a secret location only he could access and Beryl did knew nothing about. There in front of the giant pink crystal that collected the life energy he didn't sent to Beryl, was a jail. In the jail, totally powerless, was the real Jadeite.

"Hi, how have you been?" Purple Crow asked, still in his Jadeite form.

"Quite bored, are you here to play chess with me? That and using the gym equipment you got me is the only fun I got. I mean the books you got me were ok for a while, but I have read them five times each already."

"Maybe, who do you serve?" Due to the spells on the jail, Jadeite was not only powerless, but forced to say the truth.

"Myself, Beryl can go to die for all I care."

"Good, it seems Setsuna was right, the spells Queen Beryl got over you seem mostly gone. They are now weak enough for me to get rid of them."

"Really? Then you will get me free?"

"Not quite, but after three years you are finally ready for phase two."

"Phase two? What are you talking about? You said that once you made sure Queen Beryl had no control over me you would let me join you."

"Yes, but I never said it would be without making some changes. Say, do you think you will look cute after I transform you into a teenage girl?"

The look of pure terror in Jadeite face was priceless, Purple Crow had waited three years to see it.

* * *

In a bright red flash Ranko's clothes vanished, showing her naked body for a few seconds. Swirling red flames quickly wrapped about her entire body, and then disappeared to reveal a one piece red swimsuit that soon got covered with a sailor fuku and some jewelry. Her feet were covered by white socks and red ballet shoes. A rush of hot air spread from her body, revealing she was Sailor Mars, the Senshi of Fire. Staring down at her new form, Ranko's face was in shock, she seemed angry.

She looked at the blurry looking and shadow like monster while fire covered her hands "YOU!" a red battle aura surrounding her body. She launched a barrage of a thousand flame powered punches to the plant monster, burning it to ashes. "How was that? Moeru Amaguriken bitch! I just made it up!"

Sailor Mars then looked at the two other Senshi, she was so full of anger her battle aura turned into fire. Ranko forced herself to calm down, her mind going blank, her chi stopping flowing around her body, the flaming aura gone. Soul of ice, winter, nothing but snow. The hot air emitting from her body started to cool down, until it started to turn cold.

"How... how can I change back?" Ranko said before she fainted and her transformation dropped, leaving her back into her ninja outfit.

* * *

"What... what the heck was that?" Ranko asked, she was back into her room. She was also pretty sure it couldn't be a memory of a past life because in both lives she never was a Sailor Senshi, unless Rose had been lying to her.

"A vision, amazing! It seems the period has messed up our body so much that we had one without fire reading." Rose said, she sounded impressed.

"You can do fire reading? Is that like, some mumbo jumbo to see the future?"

"I am the Sage of Fire. Fire reading is just another kind of fire magic, of course I can do it! And yes, it can be used to see the future or at least the most probable outcome." Rose boasted, well it seems that in both lives she had been quite full of herself.

"That sounds quite useful, but why I was becoming a Senshi in that vision? Is that even possible?" Ranko was fearing a life stuck as a girl if that ever happened. After all, so much power as she had felt in the vision could probably override her curse and left her stuck as a girl.

"Sailor Mars was always been chosen from a Princess of the House of Mars with great skills in the path of fire and good fighting abilities. We qualify, but it's still very strange. Only Queen Serenity or the Moon Princess could make us a Senshi. So that means we will probably find the Queen or the Princess in the future."

"So, you think that maybe one of the Senshi is Queen Serenity or the Princess?"

No response, Ranko waited a few minutes then asked "Rose, you there?" Ranko didn't get an answer, was Rose gone? Or she just didn't walk to talk to her? Maybe Rose was exhausted because of the vision and had retracted into a corner of her mind? Dammit. Ranko hoped Rose wasn't gone forever, not only she still needed her help to defeat youma, but she needed a lot of questions answered. If Rose wasn't back tomorrow, she would try to start training that blade version of the Kijin Raishu Dan.

The problem was, Ranko needed to get a bladed weapon first and this wasn't Nerima, no easy way to get a sword or something similar. Maybe there were a few ancient Naginata in the temple? In the past women were trained to fight using those, so maybe the temple had one or two as relics. It won't be so rare, after all bandits and criminals weren't going to restrain themselves just because the women they wanted were priestess.

Still, there was a big problem with that plan. To get a Naginata, Ranko would have to work part time as a Miko there. And she wasn't planning to ruin Ranko Tendo's reputation, so nothing of stealing the weapon and run. That would mean she would have to deal with a pervert, at least the pervert wasn't Happosai. Still, being a Miko wasn't Ranko's idea of fun. But it could be way worse, it could be work in one of those places were young women had to dress sexy. It could even be... No! Enough about thinking about that!

First she was gonna see if that temple had Naginatas and if they allowed her to train using them. If that was the case, then and only then she would take the job as a Miko. At least the Miko robes covered much, even if she won't be allowed to wear pants. Plus the job would also give her money...

Wait, why she needed more money? She was planning only to stay a few days, right? Damn it all! For, for this whole magical ninja girl thing to work, she would need to stay way more than a few days, and that would ruin everything. Her rivals would start to come to Juuban, heck she already meet Kuno and Nabiki! Nabiki was probably selling her right now, especially after the way she scared her.

What was she gonna do? How could she fix this mess? What the hell had she been thinking? She was right, coming to Juuban had been one of her worst ideas so far. No, she wasn't gonna cry, stupid period or not! But her body refused to listen to her, and she was crying. Why had her life to be so complicated?

There was a knock on the door "Ranko-chan, are you ok?" It was the voice of Nodoka, her so-called auntie.

"I'm fine..." Ranko paused, was it so bad to have her mother console her? It's not like anyone else had to find out. "But... I could use a hug."

Nodoka opened the door, smiled and hugged Ranko. It's not like it was Ranko's fault, it was the damn period, it was like being sick, or cursed. Not like Ranko would ever let anyone find out, she was liking being hug by her mother. Right then, it didn't matter what the future was going to be, she was with her mother and she was hugging her, and it felt wonderful.

* * *

Somewhere in Ranma's mind, there was a big double door, made of black stone, sealed away with chains. The being behind that door was a representation of Ranma fears. It was the Neko-ken. A redheaded woman that looked about twenty-five was looking at the door and frowning, knowing very well that for now, maybe forever, the defeat of that monster was not something Ranma could do. The women undid the ponytail, letting her hair loose. She then adjusted her green colored Chinese Amazon outfit and started to walk away. Soon she found herself in a beautiful flower garden, the part of Ranma mind that belonged to her and another. There was Ranma's female form waiting for her, while wearing Ranma usual clothes, she was smiling.

"Hey Rose, how was it?" The smaller redhead asked, she seemed cheerful.

"It was as you said Red, we are not ready to bring that monster down."

"Yeah whatever, wanna fight?" The other redhead named Red said grinning.

"Sure Red, that always cheers me up, it will be an honor to kick your ass!"

"Oh, always so cocky uh? This time I will win!"

And so the two redheads danced.

* * *

Jadeite's head hurt, it really hurt, it was like he had woken up out of a bad nightmare combined with a hangover. He now remembered everything, he had been one of the four generals of the Earth Kingdom, until that cursed redhead witch brainwashed them and infused them with dark power. The spell had been quite strong, more powerful than any human sorcerer should be able to do, which was probably because of Queen Metalia power. He... he had betrayed his king, betrayed his prince. Honor demanded revenge, but he knew that if Queen Beryl had brainwashed him once, she could do it again. There where no traces left of the foul spell in his body, or of Metalia's power. Now, he felt his old powers returning... and that made him remember what Purple Crow had said about turning him into a teenager girl.

"Well Jade..." Purple Crow said in a mocking tone, his Jadeite disguise gone. "Still want to serve only yourself and join me?"

"That depends... what are your plans? Are you just another megalomaniac trying to take over the galaxy? And how that involves turning me into a girl?"

"All I can say is that the objective is to save Earth, there is a greater evil than Metalia coming. But first, Queen Metalia needs to be defeated by the Sailor Senshi. Until then, I will make sure the Senshi become stronger. Unfortunately, the plan requires you to become someone else, General Jadeite is too well known." Purple Crow took out his mask, revealing a face that for some reason sends a strange sense of familiarity to the former Dark General. He was sure he had never seen that face before, maybe the disguise field was the reason he couldn't place the face with a name.

"Why do I have to be transformed into a teenager girl? Couldn't you just change my appearance to look like a different male human?"

"In order to become untraceable by both the Senshi team and the Dark Kingdom, your heart crystal needs to be altered. For some bizarre reason, the process is more secure and works better on females. Still it's your decision, you can still help the plans as a guy, and it just would have to be in a passive role." The bait had been served, the reason he had picked Jadeite wasn't only because he was the first general the girls where supposed to face, but also because of the four Dark Generals, he had been the one with the kindest heart; even after being brainwashed and corrupted by dark power. He also knew that Jadeite could tell when someone was being sincere, he might not have been the most powerful Dark General, but he was very good at reading body language.

"What I did, even having the excuse of being brainwashed, was the worst betrayal. I helped to kill my King! Since suicide would accomplish nothing, all that is left is revenge. Do whatever you must."

"I knew I had chosen well, your heart is in the right place Jadeite. Now, in order to make it safe, you need to rest well and recover until you are at full strength. Do you swear your loyalty to me and that you won't try to escape?"

"Yes my master." Jadeite bowed and was almost surprised on how easily he swore loyalty to the man he only knew as Purple Crow. He knew the cell power restrains where gone, and he couldn't detect any mind control spell. Still, that sense of familiarity, it made him feel as if he was supposed to serve this man. Maybe it was... his prince? The prince didn't have pink hair and red eyes, but if he had been reborn, who could tell how he would end up looking in his new body?

* * *

Early in the morning, it was a brand new day, the sun was shining, the birds where singing and all what Ranko could think was killing the damn birds and go to sleep a few hours more. How did girls go with this period thing every fucking month?

Still, period or not, Ranma Saotome was a Martial Artist, so she forced herself to wake up and took a shower. After drying herself and using yet another pad, she changed. There wasn't much use in trying the more practical clothes if she wasn't going to practice, so she picked to wear one of the girly dresses her auntie Nodoka got for her.

"Good morning Auntie!" Ranko was surprised to find that Nodoka seemed to be an early riser, and that she seemed to be already making breakfast.

"Good morning Ranko, do you feel better today?"

"Not really." Ranko said, "I can't really train like this, besides some slow katas, so I will try to focus on meditation."

"Actually..." Nodoka smiled "Are you familiar with the tea ceremony? Is not like you really have anything better to do, so I thought..."

Ranko gulped, yes, she was familiar with the tea ceremony, but only the combat version of it. If she said she knew the tea ceremony, her mother would just find another girly thing to teach Ranko about.

"I won't mind you teach me auntie." Perfect! That haven't been a lie, she honestly didn't mind, mostly because it would just be the two of them, with no witness. She would have preferred for Rose to deal with this, but she had said her mother was something Ranma Saotome needed to do on her own.

* * *

Ryoga Hibiki found himself back at the Shrine and he changed clothes. Thankfully, he had left a spare set for washing. He exited the bathroom and looked at the strange fox girl that claimed to be his sister.

"Okay little princess, what's the deal with you?" Ryoga knew little girls liked to be called princess. After all, even if this little girl was really some kind of fox demon or maybe a Kami, it still had the form of a small girl.

"You rescued me, now Kiseki will be your little sister and help you!" The five year old looking girl smiled and gave him thumbs up.

"So... little sister uh?" Ryoga petted the girl's fox ears "I guess there is no way I will convince you to leave me alone, right?"

"I will respect you privacy, but Kiseki always will be there to help big brother!" The girl grinned, it seemed she was liking the petting.

"So... care to explain things in more detail?"

"I am your little sister, I will protect and help big brother!"

"Right, uh... can you get my backpack and umbrella back? I kind of left it back at the Tendo Dojo in Nerima."

"Yay! Kiseki likes to help!" The little girl ran away of the temple at an amazing speed, wind trailing behind her.

Even with the girl's amazing speed that would give Ryoga some time for himself. What was he gonna do with her? If she were evil, she wouldn't even be able to be near the temple, the place had some kind of holy power. For normal people, it made the place... nice. For Chi Adepts like himself and Ranma, they could feel a calming and relaxing influence, one that brought out the best of them. What it did for creatures like Kiseki?

* * *

Usagi Tsukino was never an early riser, 'specially during holidays, so Luna looked at the girl confused when she just... woke up. Maybe woke up wasn't the exact term, it was more like Usagi opened her eyes and just laying in the side of the bed, looking at nothing in particular, as if she was daydreaming.

"Usagi, are you ok?" Her feline advisor seemed worried, what could make the blonde act like this?

"She... she is alive... after all this time... Lady Rose was reborn..." Usagi's voice sounded strange. It was more the voice of an educated and refined girl, not Usagi's usual childish and attention seeking tone.

"Princess... Serenity?" Luna said in disbelief. Luna had always known, even with her damaged memories, that Usagi Tsukino was the reincarnation of princess Serenity. But the blonde girl wasn't ready to know that yet.

"Not quite... just memories..." Usagi smiled and looked at Luna. "I don't plan to take over this child's mind if I can help it. She is just so nice and innocent, unspoiled by grief and loss... but like she tends to say, life isn't fair, right?"

"Who... who is Lady Rose?" Luna asked, there where many questions in the feline's head, but she knew Serenity's personality could fade away at any moment leaving behind just a confused teen.

"That's a good question, isn't it? Before the war, she and my mother where friends, Lady Rose was one of the few who was willing to call her out of doing something stupid. Then... I fell in love, I ignored everything but my heart and because of that, millions died."

"Princess, you can't really blame yourself for..."

"Heavy is the head that carries the crown, right? Unlike little Usagi, being childish and innocent was just a mask. I lost my innocence when I was eight and they killed a man in front of me, to prevent my assassination."

"I..." The Mau was lost about what to say.

Princess Serenity touched Luna's forehead, and the feline felt a small tingle all over her body. "I got to go now, Usagi drank too much water. Have fun with my gift, something tells me you will need it."

Usagi then ran to the bathroom and closed the door. Because of that, she didn't notice the confused cat staring at the disguise pen. They hardly used it anymore, so it was just hidden along Usagi's regular pens.

Luna picked the pen with her mouth. Would it work? Princess Serenity was after all the daughter of the Queen, it could be a nasty prank. Wait! She should probably wait until Usagi...

There was a flash of light, and where the cat was, now stood a girl that looked just like Usagi, only naked. The disguise pen still in her mouth. She picked it up with her now human's hand and grunted, knowing she would just have to wait for the effect to wear off. Figures the darn princess would be able to do something helpful that was a prank at the same time...

Thankfully, the effect of the transformation only lasted an hour, or Usagi would try to make Luna go to school in her place. Heck, who was she kidding? Usagi would find a way to abuse it anyway...

Still... to walk among humans, without hiding she could talk, wear pretty dresses, maybe even go in a... Where did those thoughts come from? Then she remembered, a long time ago, she could take human form, it had been a gift of the queen for years of service. It was a way for Luna to talk and interact to others without being treated like a pet. Sure, they would usually respect her rank, but still treat her like a cat.

Now she knew that human form was probably lost, replaced by the body double of one Usagi Tsukino. She wanted to hate the princess for what she had done to her, but it made a lot of sense. Luna's human form would have been a ghost in the system, a girl that came out of nowhere, that spelled trouble. Plus, having a double, Usagi would have less of a hard time becoming Sailor Moon, even if she was in a situation where she couldn't leave.

Luna was so busy thinking that she barely noticed the real Usagi exiting the bathroom and looking at her in shock. Now Usagi, considering she still had hours of sleep left, came to what for her mind was the most logical conclusion.

"Uh, a dream where I am naked again?" Usagi smiled and walked to Luna, picking the other girl's hands. "Now sister, I know the disguise pen is fun, but using it to walk around naked is bad."

Usagi picked the magic artifact and hid it under her pillow, and then she started to get naked herself. Luna looked at Usagi in shock, her mind considering the pros and cons of telling the truth. Pros, Usagi would probably not do something to her body. Cons, Usagi would freak-out, thinking she was a youma and try to kill her. Plus Miss Tsukino would come to Usagi's room, and find that her only daughter had somehow become twins.

Blushing, Luna silently cursed the Moon Princess and decided to play along for the moment. The now naked Usagi then sat on the ground, and to her surprise took out a shogi board from under the bed, then took a small box, pulled out the shogi pieces, and put them in place.

"Now, how we played this thing again?" Usagi asked, thankfully Luna was familiar with the rules of shogi. It was among the many things about the new and modern Earth that someone had implanted knowledge of in her head.

When about an hour later, Luna changed back into a cat, Usagi decided the dream was getting too weird even for her and went back to bed. Luna smiled, felling proud of her princess, she had managed to win one of three games. Thinking it better, Usagi was not the only one who could abuse her new power, the possibilities of black mail material where almost endless. Luna grinned, showing her cat teeth, Oh yes! Usagi's tardiness and bad grades days where going to be over as soon as classes started again. Heck, she could probably even make Usagi join a sports team, No, better not! Luna would probably be the one working out seeing how much of an uncomfortable timing the youma attacks usually had.

* * *

Ami Mizuno was laying lazily in her bed, something that was very strange for her. Yesterday she... she had lost control, she had let her emotions get the best of her. Sure, it had worked for the best, but that had only been because Usagi was her friend and they where in a somewhat safe environment. But what if it happened during battle? She couldn't let this keep happening to her, she had wasted too many years to keep her emotions in check to become an emotional wreck now. Ami got up out the bed and decided to do something besides felling sorry for herself, doing nothing and being lazy was Usagi's style, not hers.

Ami got to her desk, picked paper and pencil and started to draw, not really focusing on it, letting her mind wander. She ended drawing herself wearing a cute princess outfit, then she drew Usagi, she was in her nightgown, and then Luna, she was over an elephant for some estrange reason. Ami suddenly looked at what she had just done. It was... illogical, it made no sense, it was like the stuff from dreams.

Ami smiled, it was okay to draw, to let her imagination fly like this, it was safe. Ami then drew the Tuxedo guy, she did that drawing horrible bad on purpose. Why she didn't like him anyway? Was it the horrible speeches? Or was it because he could make Usagi work hard easily just by saying a few words, when it took her so much effort instead?

Maybe, just maybe... she was jealous. Is not like she was attracted to him, but the guy seemed to care about Sailor Moon, he tried to help and protect her. It would be nice, to have a guy do that for her, okay, maybe not like that. Maybe someone who didn't do stupid speeches or threw roses, maybe someone who just went and saved her, then gave her a gentle kiss.

Ami blushed, she guessed it was about time she started to get interested in boys, it was perfectly natural after all. Not that she saw being interested in girls as wrong, she was still keeping her mind open about the possibility. After all, from the files she had been able to read from the Mercury computer, it seemed girls loving girls was not frowned upon during the Silver Millennium. Sure most girls still got together with guys, but there where some royal parties, where Queen Serenity made sure everyone got quite drunk and...

Okay, now she needed a cold shower, and fast!

* * *

The Lady of Time looked yet again at the Gates of Time, watching the girl that was calling herself Ranko Tendo being taught the Japanese tea ceremony by a woman she called "Auntie Nodoka." She had to start the plan to make the redhead become the enemy of the Senshi, but how to go about it?

Setsuna rubbed her chin thinking, her golden eyes changing into a dark brownish-red colouring, then simply to plain dark brown. Then her hair became black. Changing eye and hair color with a simply glamour was child's game for her. Then her Sailor Senshi uniform faded away, leaving her naked by mere seconds, then white silk underwear covered her private parts, then she got a white blouse and blue jeans. Her feet where covered by brown roman sandals, that was Setsuna's definition of 'casual'. She honestly preferred real clothes to an illusion, but said illusions was the only way she could still use her Senshi powers while looking as she was wearing regular clothes.

Setsuna teleported to her office on the top floor of Meioh Enterprises main building. Using magic to deal with Ranma Saotome in the past had proven problematic at best, disastrous most of the time. This time, she was gonna try using more mundane but effective means, the money and influence that being the CEO of Meioh Enterprises gave her. Also she was the mayor investor, 40% of the company was at her name, 20% in the name of Purple Crow's civilian identity.

Setsuna did a few phone calls, called in some favours, treated and bribed people. By the same time tomorrow, Ranko Tendo won't be longer a lie created by a gender changing boy called Ranma Saotome, but legally a real person. She had even found an old Dojo to buy and put into the girls name, then rent it and made sure the money went into an account at the girls name. So the lie Ranma had told to her mother became as close to reality as it could be.

Now, she needed to deal with was affectionately named as the 'Nerima Wrecking Crew', Kuno wasn't a real trouble, and Ryoga had kind of reformed and was working at a temple... but the fiancées...

Ranma lie to his Dad and the Tendos had been that he was going off for a week to train on a secret technique, that was only taught to girls, and it was a pathetic lie. Ranma had left a note and left without telling where to avoid Akane to tag along. Nabiki had found Ranma in Juuban on the girl's second day there, and had probably told everyone.

While she knew using magic directly on Ranma was a bad idea, she could do the next best thing. The Lady of Time teleported back at the gates and casted a spell to everyone in Nerima that knew about the fact Ranma changed into a redhead with cold water. The spell would make those people unable to recognize Ranma as long as she was a girl. Unfortunately, it won't work well in Kuno or Kodachi's case since they where crazy, but at least it was an improvement.

Now all she needed was a few more manipulations to make Ranma believe it was the Sailor Senshi the ones who had made all this, in an effort to force her to be a magical girl and... well it was going to be fun to watch.

**AN2:** Shogi is also known as the Japanese chess, this is the game Genma and Soun usually play in Ranma 1/2. Red is a representation of everything good Ranma sees in his female form but fears to accept because is not manly. This is not a "Ranma becomes a girl" story, thank you.


	4. Deception

_This is my first Fukufic . Please provide feedback. Spelling mistakes, things that don't make sense, etc. Please tell me what I should do to make this story better. How is the characterization? Is everyone reacting to the situations in ways believable for their character? The quality cannot improve if there is no feedback._

**This chapter has an important plot twist... and again, thanks a lot to Hiryo from #fukufics for editing this chapter. **

**AN1:** English is NOT my native language, thank you.

**Episode 04: Deception**

It was a very painful memory, but she had to endure it. She had to remember, to stop blocking it, if not for herself, then for Ranko-chan at least.

She was dying, but at least her mission had been complete. The artifact was safe, the Dark Kingdom would never get its hands over it. They had captured her, tortured her, break her, and tried to read her mind. Queen Beryl had even tried to use Queen Metalia's power in her, to force to reveal the location of the artifact. It was useless, even if she had never endured the seven days of fire to sharpen her mind, she didn't know where the artifact was. All they would have got if they broke her was that she had given the artifact to a friend. And the Dark Kingdom would never get its twisted claws in said friend. After all, it was almost impossible to find a kitsune if it didn't want to be found. But she had to make time, wait until they got impatient, until they did what she couldn't do, bring her so close to death her powers would make her be invincible.

That was it, even with her chi healing abilities, even with what little her fire could do to stop her bleeding, she was beyond the point she could save herself. The mental block that prevented her full access to her powers was now removed.

Rose screamed, her whole body burning with fire, exploding all restrains and burning anything and everyone in the prison block that wasn't made of stone. Now free of her restrains, her torturers turned to ashes, she fell to her knees, breathing hard. Rose continued to scream crying, she only had one haft of the phoenix, but for what she wanted it would be enough. The flame of life, once activated had given her less than an hour of live. Well, better put what little time she had left to use.

Rose let the flames consume her body to ashes, but for her it wasn't death, not yet. Rose was reborn as a blue and small flaming bird. The bird went outside and started to destroy the youma army with a rain of blue fire. She could feel her soul brother trying to reach her, but it was too late already and she ignored him. Since she walked the path of fire, she would die on fire, but not before making the Dark Kingdom pay.

The Burning Rose had died by the power of the phoenix, but the phoenix was not only a power of destruction, but also that of rebirth. Someday, she would be born again, in a different body. Maybe then, she would see her son and her soul brother again.

Then, after her flame of life had extinguished, Rose saw something she shouldn't have seen, something when she didn't live back then.

She saw how half of the youma forces had died that day, both by her efforts and the Sailor Senshi. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough, and Queen Serenity was forced to sacrifice her life to seal the Dark Kingdom forces away and make the Sailor Senshi be reborn in the future.

She saw Queen Serenity being consumed by the Silver Crystal, and just then, the queen heart was open to her. She didn't want her empire to be rebuilt, she didn't want revenge. The Queen's only desire was that her daughter, her 'Little Rabbit' would be accepted, that her new parents would love her as much as she did. That whatever happened, the princess would find happiness.

* * *

Rose woke up sweating, wearing the other redhead body, Ranko consciousness was asleep. The last part wasn't a memory... how could she remember what she didn't live? Another vision? Yes, a vision of the past. She had been right, the period was messing up her prophetic powers. She looked herself over, Ranko's body was so similar to the one she used to have, yet younger and smaller.

She thought about what she had seen, she could understand Queen Serenity feelings. She had felt the same for her son and for Raven. Her son... had he been reborn in this time? Or it had happened long ago?

Rose did never love her husband, she only saw her as a friend, as a way to fulfill her duty. Her tribe accepted love among women, but she still needed to have descendants. When her husband died, it was the loss of a good friend, when she had to kill her own son to save his soul, her heart broke.

Then Rose remembered why the war had started, and had to cover her mouth to avoid screaming. The princess didn't deserve happiness, it was the damn brat who had started the war in the first place!

Rose took a quick shower, then wore a new pad and put on the ninja costume. Maybe she could find a youma to fight and throw her frustrations at? She felt the pain of guilt, she was using Ranko... no Ranma's body, without permission. She would be sure to tell Ranko-chan later, right now she honestly needed to go out. She looked at the time, it was haft past six in the afternoon.

Using Ranko's memories as a guide, she slipped into the Umi-Sen Ken and went outside, jumping over rooftops. At the same time, she let a small but constant flow of her magic into the costume, it would help to protect it from her own powers and from most fire based attacks.

Then, she felt a familiar pull in her mind, she had just detected a youma. She let a terrible grin form in her face. It was time to kick some ass!

* * *

Ranma looked around confused, he was in the middle of a beautiful flower garden, most of the flowers where orchids, but there where also a few roses. Ranma stood up and looked himself over, he felt happy to be in his male form and on his usual Chinese shirt and pants. Then he noticed a familiar redhead looking at him.

"Rose, is that you?"

"Nope, I am Red-chan!" The redhead smiled, she was wearing Ranma usual clothes, no bra, and Ranma guessed the girl had boxers instead of panties.

"Red-chan? Who are you?"

"I am everything good you see about being a girl, the girl you would like to be if you wanted to be one. Wanna spar?"

Ranma looked at the redhead, normally he would never reject a fight, but after Rose sucked him into being some kind of magical girl, he decided to edge in the side of caution.

"What's the catch?"

"No catch, Rose been training me, I will show you some moves you don't know."

"What? Why the hell she would train you and not me?"

"Oh, I dunno, maybe 'cause you been mean to me?"

"Mean to you? What are you talking about?"

"You just use me when you want free stuff, or when you have one of your crazy plans. But you also hate me, you want to kill me, suppress me, and make me go away. How do you think that makes me feel?"

"I... I never knew you existed!"

"Well, you do know it now!"

"Wait a goddamn minute! You have any idea how much I have suffered because of the stupid curse?"

"That's true, but what about the times being a girl has been helpful? It was girl Ranma who made it possible to get the cure of the Ultimate Weakness Moxibustion, not you. And let's not start by how you would have never defeated Happosai without distracting him with my body."

"Your body? It was me who did at all, who suffered for it!"

"So, you admit that the girl's body is part of you?"

"Of course it is!" Ranma noticed a second later what he had just said "Hey!"

"Bingo!" Red-chan smiled and crossed her arms

"What do you want from me?"

"I want you to admit that you do enjoy some things about being a girl. And besides, is not like you can do the whole magical girl thing if you are a guy, right?"

"I am a man dammit!"

"Yeah sure, a man that sometimes is a girl."

"I will not get stuck as a girl again, not now, not ever!" Ranma aura started to flare up

"Hey! I don't want you to get stuck as a girl, Ok? Just stop being so mean to me." Red-chan was extending her arms, palms in front, in the usual stop it pose.

"But... if... if I never get a cure, mommy... she... she will never accept me..." Ranma fell down, he wanted to keep on denial, to fight this stupid girl and prove he was a man. But like it had happened with Rose, he felt it would be useless. Red-chan was a part of him, and there was no use to lie to himself like that. Ranma didn't want to end like Kuno or Kodachi, so warped up on their own lies it was like they lived in their own private world.

Ranma felt arms warping around him, two soft something's touching his chest. He looked up and saw Red-chan hugging him.

"Is okay to cry, even as a man. You are in your own mind, no one else will see you."

"But... is not manly..." Ranma felt tears falling from his face. Damn period, even when he saw himself as a man in his own mind it was still making him an emotional wreck.

"Stop with the manly crap! Rose may be willing to let you deal with mommy alone, but I am not! What kind of mother just stays away of our lives for ten years and then comes back trying to kill his son if he doesn't fit what she wants from him?"

"It... is not really her fault, it was the stupid panda..."

"You can't blame dad on this! A real mother would have tried to look for us, to try to keep in contact besides the postcards and letters Genma sent her. Heck after five years, she should have declared you missing and have the police looking for you!"

"I... I don't wanna lose her, I don't want to quit my family name, or kill myself. How... how can I fix this mess if there is no cure for us?"

"True love knows no bounds. You can keep the lie for now, but someday, you will have to tell her. I am perfectly okay with you expending a lot of time as a girl... even if I don't particularly like girly stuff."

"Now that was mean Red-chan..."

"Well, maybe there is no real cure for us, but Rose knows magic, maybe she can find a way to control how you change and stop you from being a water magnet?"

"That would be nice... ARGG! How long is this damn period gonna last? I hate being so emotional!"

"You are just lucky you didn't get pregnant..."

"DON'T YOU EVEN DARE TO JOKE ABOUT THAT!"

Red-chan bend her knees, placing both palms on the ground, and then bowed and scraped for forgiveness shouting "I am sorry, I am sorry, please don't kill me!", doing one of the best impressions of the Crouch of the Wild Tiger Ranma had ever seen.

* * *

The library, the youma was in the library, it also didn't seem like the youma they had been fighting lately. For starters, this youma was using a human disguise. Second, said youma wasn't punching everything and everyone, causing mass destruction. It seemed to be one of the old energy draining schemes, it was also kind of low key. Most people found libraries boring, so no one would find weird if people felt tired and felt asleep in the library, right?

Well, that was all good in theory, but when everyone in the library but the librarian girl and Ami had fainted, the plan became quite clear. The youma shed her human disguise away.

The youma was white with lizard like skin, it had blue gems covering her forehead, shoulders, chest and feet. She also still looked somewhat human and feminine. She had basically the appearance of a tall blonde with a voluptuous body and huge breasts. Instead of eyes, it had two blue sapphires. Ami was glad the youma was wearing a two piece black swimsuit to cover herself, she wasn't a pervert, but such a body was... distracting.

It also didn't make sense, a jewel themed Youma in a library? Ami watched the youma slowly approach her.

"Oh little girl, why aren't you falling asleep?" The youma said. So, it talked? It had been so long since she saw a youma say something intelligent that she had forgot some youma could talk.

Then there was a crashing sound, and a redhead ninja girl entered the library, breaking trough the closed glass window as if it wasn't there.

"Hey you youma! I need to kick some ass and so it happens to be yours!"

The monster turned around "I was kind of expecting the Sailor Senshi, but I guess I could use a small warm up!"

The gems in the youma body glowed and she unleashed some kind of red energy beams attack from her eyes, the ninja easily evaded the attack, but the wall behind her wasn't so lucky and got a huge hole in it.

"Hey blue hair! Run, I will keep this ugly witch busy!" Ami wanted to stay, use the Mercury computer and analyze both the youma and the female ninja. But she had a cover identity to maintain, so she escaped using the hole in the wall. One she was a few blocks away of the library she ducked into an empty alleyway an opened her Senshi Communicator, then pressed the red emergency button. That would activate the tracking signal and led Usagi to where she was. She double checked to make sure no one was looking, and took out her Transformation Pen.

In the time it took Sailor Mercury to transform and run back to the library, she found the youma tied up to the ground with chains of fire. The ninja was punching and kicking her with a maniacal grin, enjoying the punishment she was giving to the monster.

"Not so fun when you are the defenseless victim, right?" the kunoichi said

"Please... please stop..." The youma was bleeding dark blood, she had bruises, a swollen face and ribs broken.

Ami almost felt pity for the monster, things weren't supposed to be like this. Ami didn't know who the redhead ninja was, but what she was doing was outright torture.

"What the heck you think you are doing?"

The redhead turned around and looked at Sailor Mercury "Oh right, you want to finish her off yourself?"

"That's not what I mean, is one thing to kill youma, but what are you doing is torture!"

"So what? You think these monsters deserve any better? You think they won't torture you, your family and friends if they did have the chance?"

Ami looked at the redhead in shock, she had never considered the fact that youma could do that. That they could kill her or her family yes, but, that they could capture and torture her and her family...

The ninja then ignored Sailor Mercury and turned to look at the youma "What's your name monster?"

"Safaia... just... just let me die... please..."

"Very well..." The chains of fire disappeared and the youma felt down. Her body unable to sustain the grave injuries, it started slowly to turn to dust.

"Master... master Thetis... I am sorry... I failed you..." Ami was surprised to see black tears falling from the youma eyes before her body completely disappeared. Could it be that youma where more than mere monsters, that they had feelings and emotions, that they had a heart?

"So, you must be Sailor Mercury, I am Rose." The ninja said to the blue haired girl in fuku and extended her hand. But Ami had just too many things going in her head to react.

"Ah whatever, see you later!" Rose disappeared in a blur, and just like that, she was gone. Sailor Moon arrived moments later, her prepared speech stooping midway when she noticed there was no youma to be seen.

"Mercury, did you defeat the youma on your own?" Usagi noticed the worried expression in her friends face, just what did that cursed youma do to her?

"No... it was a ninja girl named Rose..." Then both girls noticed the people in the library slowly waking up, as if their energy had been returned. That haven't happened since well... about the time they started to fight youma everyday.

"You said Rose?" Luna asked, looking worried

"Yeah, why?" Ami turned to see the moon cat, then saw the confused faces of the people who had just woke up. "Later, we better leave now."

Both Sailor Moon and Luna nodded and the three females left the library

* * *

"You did what?" The fake dark general looked at the almost faceless youma, her red pupil less eyes somewhat showed an expression of confusion and nervousness.  
"I am sorry Jadeite-sama, but you didn't send one of those instant youma like you usually do and I thought... I could cover for you?"

"You idiot!" The one who she believed to be Jadeite slapped her face "I was just waiting for nighttime, if those stupid girls are tired then their defeat would be easier. But now, thanks to you, a real youma has died, and Queen Beryl will get angry at me!"

"Jadeite-sama you... you will cover for me?" The female youma heart was beating fast, she somewhat blushed, Jadeite-sama cared for her!

"Yes... I... I will make up something to explain it Thetis. But..." Jadeite slapped a black bracelet around the high ranking youma arm. Any idea Thetis had of having joy because her Jadeite-sama had given her a present died when she felt a sharp pain cursing all her body and she felt down; wanting to scream but unable to do so.

"I don't like anyone going behind my back, I don't care if you are one of Beryl favorite youma. I have won enough favor with her lately to be able to punish you, understand?"

The pain stooped, the black bracelet dissolved into nothing and Thetis silently nodded. She was confused, Jadeite-sama cared enough to cover for her, but he had also punished her. Then she remembered that what she did could be considered a betrayal, even if she had the best intentions in mind. Still, even if she had made him angry, her love had still show he cared.

That alone was worth all the pain the world. Now she just needed a way to win his heart. Jadeite-sama didn't like anyone messing up with his plans, so how else could she prove her love to him? Queen Beryl would never let her go to serve Jadeite, no matter how much favor he had won with her lately.

Then she remembered that the other Dark generals didn't like Jadeite much, maybe she could be his spy, use her position and power to spy on the others and inform him? Yes, that could do, but she won't tell him about it, she would only go to him when she had evidence of any of the other Dark generals planning to betray her Jadeite-sama.

Then, as usual when she thought of Jadeite, she started to have fantasies of her love rubbing the naked back of her human form. The fantasies started to get more daring and the youma didn't notice that Jadeite had already left. Most important, Thetis didn't notice she had changed into her human form, until minutes later, when she finally noticed her love was gone.

Thetis looked herself over, when did she change into human form? Well, maybe she could stay like that a bit longer, she needed practice acting human if her fantasies where one day to become reality. Her stomach growled, weird, she already had her filling of energy today. When she went back to her room and took some energy from a containment crystal, she found that the energy had not totally sated her hunger. Very strange, Thetis found herself going to the fridge he had always filled with human food, so she could practice eating like a human. Unlike other times, where the food caused no effect on her, she found it actually replenishing her energy. In fact after eating haft of the contents of the fridge, she have out a happy burping sound, blushed and noticed she wasn't hungry anymore.

* * *

In The Omega base secret room, the real Jadeite was looking at what Thetis was doing, thanks to a crystal ball that showed what the youma saw and reproduced any sound she made or heard.

"I don't understand, why is she eating human food now? And why did she change into her human form?" Jadeite was confused.

"The spy device I installed in her needed an alternate power source, and since she is so obsessed to act human, her getting more human food would be unnoticed. The device also generates the subconscious desire to stay in human form as long as possible. She already did that, so again, it won't draw much attention." Purple Crow answered.

"Why does she need to stay in human form?"

"For two reasons, the first one that way she can actually eat human food, as her default youma form has no mouth. The second is because that way she will look more obsessed with her lovely Jadeite-sama than she already is."

"So, you want your new spy to be killed? That doesn't sound very logical."

"No, I want Beryl to try to brainwash her. If she does, the device reaction to Queen Metalia energy will be... interesting."

"You said it has to be the Senshi the ones who defeat Queen Metalia, so what's that interesting reaction supposed to do if it won't kill Queen Beryl?"

"Oh, no spoilers, you will see it when it happens, if it ever does."

"I am starting to regret swearing my loyalty to you. Considering the fact you want me to become a teenager girl and what you did to Thetis, you do seem like some pervert with a strange fetish."

"Maybe I am, so what? Queen Beryl also has her fetishes, why do you think most youma are female and look like sexy women?"

"Good point, still... I don't have to like it."

"We are playing a game with magical girls, so girls have the home advantage. You had your chance to avoid becoming female and you blew it. So I suggest that you enjoy your last hours as a man."

"I should have insisted in having some female company before the change."

"Want me to get Thetis here?"

"You would ruin your spy plan for me or are you joking?"

"Of course I am joking. Creating that spy device took a full year. I ain't going to ruin it so you can get into some fun. But I can pay for a few girls to give your male body one last hurray if you insist."

"I think I will pass, I haven't got lucky since Beryl brainwashed me, not even with youma. If I try that now... I might enjoy being a guy too much and try to escape. And I know very well that even if I escape you that only means Beryl brainwashing me again."

"I knew I had picked well. Got any preferences in hair and eye color?"

"Why change perfection?" Jadeite smirked "Is kind of ironic, considering how sexist my Dark General persona was, that I will end becoming female."

"The idea has crossed my mind, yes. Still, even as sexist as you where, you had respect for your youma and always created plans that didn't end killing humans."

"I was only able to carry those plans for a short while before you replaced me, so I will just have to take your word for it. Who knows how I would have reacted when the Sailor Senshi appeared, how could desperation affect me? "

Purple Crow silently nodded, there was no point in telling Jadeite about time travel or about how things would have gone if he and Golden Eyes hadn't interfered. He didn't show it, but he was nervous, the only attempt so far they had done to create their own magical girl had ended in disaster. Thankfully, they knew why it had failed in that timeline, they just had lacked enough power. Now they had more than enough power stored in the Pink crystal, and Jadeite was powerful on his own to start with.

Still, that didn't meant all would go well if the transformation was a success, the former Dark General would end being very powerful, and there was always the risk the change warped "Jade's" mind and made the new magical girl turn against them. But this was probably their last chance, they had to go all out, or end being killed by the next timeline Sailor Pluto.**  
**

* * *

Usagi was drinking hot chocolate, it was one of the ways Ami had found out to keep the blonde interested. Just offer her some food and/or drinks she liked and she would listen to even the most boring conversations without protesting or falling asleep, at least while the food or drinks lasted. But this time, it seemed that wasn't really needed, the whole story of a ninja redhead girl with fire powers, and the fact she was also the reincarnation of someone from the Silver Millennium had caught Usagi interest.

"So, we will get a new Sailor Senshi that's also a ninja? That's great!"

"Usagi, for the third time, she is not a Sailor Senshi! Ami looked for this Lady Rose in the Mercury computer, and all is mentioned is that she trained the Sailor Mars from your Senshi generation." Luna said, a vein growing on her forehead.

"She trained a Senshi? Even better! Just think on how cool it would be to have someone like her in the team! I bet she can even teach me some ninja tricks! Just think about it, Sailor Moon, ninja of love and justice!"

Ami looked at the blonde and the cat arguing, and thought about a moment if she should interfere, she decided against it. Whoever Lady Rose was, the fact there was so little information about her was worrisome. Just a footnote saying she trained the Sailor Mars know as Raven. Without anything better to do, Ami decided to use her time to investigate about this 'Raven', it was strange she had found information about her when the information about herself and Sailor Moon was blocked. And that any other information she had tried to get about the rest of the Sailor Senshi keeps giving her an "Access denied" message.

When Ami finished reading the file about the latest girl to bear the title of Sailor Mars, she knew why. Raven had been one of the early casualties of the war, three of the Dark Generals had ambushed her, and had completely obliterated her Star Seed. And because of that, the file said Sailor Mars wouldn't be able to reincarnate. Star Seed? What's that?

The information about Star Seeds said, "To unblock, requires the presence of at least three Sailor Senshi."

Without more information, Mercury tried to think why destroying a Star seed would prevent reincarnation. Maybe the information of the computer was talking about Star Seeds in a metaphorical way, meaning they where like souls?

They... they had destroyed a person's soul...

Ami closed her fists in anger, until she noticed they where bleeding, stupid long nails! Without saying a word, she went to get the medical kit in the bathroom and cured her wounds. That finally seemed to snap Luna and Usagi out of their argument.

"Oh my! Ami are you okay?"

"Yes... just... I am so angry! Those bastards! They didn't only kill Sailor Mars, but made it in a way that destroyed her soul! You know what it means?"

"Uh... no?" Usagi carefully said, they where talking about Lady Rose, had Amy found something about Sailor Mars that made her act like that?

"It means that poor Raven will never be reborn, that she is literally deader than dead!"

"Uh... can the bad guys really do that?" Usagi asked, that was really scary, what if they did that to her? Worse, what if they did that to one of her friends or her family?

"Yes, but it seems it took three dark generals facing against a single Senshi to do that, so we are safe unless the Dark Kingdom decides to go all out on us. And even then, it would be very unlikely, something about the Dark Kingdom suffering the wrath of the heavens some months later."

"Wrath of the heavens?" Luna asked, and something seemed to click in her head "You mean... fire falling from the sky?"

"Yes, why? Do you know something about that?" Ami looked right into the cat advisor eyes.

"I wish, Swiss cheese memory, remember? But I do remember something about fire falling from the sky just before I went into the stasis chamber."

"Wow! So Rose can do that? We have to get her to become a Senshi! Isn't any way we can make her an honorary member or something?"

Luna then looked at Usagi, fear showing into the cat eyes. If Usagi found out she was the princess, then she would be able to grant Lady Rose provisional status as a Senshi, and so the Mars Transformation Pen would work on her. If that fire falling from the sky had been her, then making Rose a Senshi would probably make her powerful enough to destroy Tokyo in a single attack.

"Only the princess could do that."

"Then we must find that princess!"

Luna crashed her head to the ground, of course Usagi would say that! How could she have been so stupid? She should have lied and said it just wasn't possible. But then, she already felt bad enough for lying to her princess, she didn't want to add more lies unless they where really needed.

"About that princess..." Ami said, getting Usagi's attention.

"What about her? Did you find anything in the Mercury computer? Is she cute? Do you think she likes shopping and videogames too?"

"Well, no, that's what worries me. If we are supposed to find the princess, why can't I access information about her in the Mercury computer? Is not like the Dark Kingdom doesn't already know who she was in the past, so why can't I?"

"Well..." Luna said, of course the information would be blocked, Sailor Mercury was very smart. If she had been able to read about Princess Serenity, she would piece together that Sailor Moon was the princess. She had already deduced what planets the rest of the Inner Senshi had.

"Yes?" Ami asked, looking impatient.

"There was no way to know if the Sailor Senshi reborn would side with the princess, or be found earlier by the Dark Kingdom and brainwashed to serve Queen Metalia."

"Don't our Senshi powers protect us from being controlled by Metalia?"

"Yes, but..." Luna thought fast what to say, "If your Senshi powers haven't been active when they brainwashed you, or you had been convinced to join willingly..."

"But besides avoiding being drained by youma, my Senshi Powers didn't really work until you gave me the transformation pen. If I have access to the Mercury computer, doesn't that mean I deserve some trust?"

"Ehh... if you had been turned into a youma, said youma would have Sailor Mercury powers..." Luna had just thrown a shot in the dark, she was getting out of excuses.

"Can they do that too?" Usagi asked, destroying your your soul so you couldn't reborn, tuning people into youma, the Dark Kingdom was sounding really scary today.

"Uh... maybe?" Luna was looking really nervous.

"But won't have my powers have protected me? Like they did from energy draining?" Ami was sounding suspicious, just what was Luna hiding?

"The... the people of the Silver Millennium were really, really paranoid?"

Then it was Usagi who was eying Luna suspiciously "Luna, what are you hiding?"

"Ehh... I can't tell you, not until we get the other Sailor Senshi to join us."

"Okay!" Usagi said in a happy voice, and since she was out of hot chocolate turned around and picked to read a teen magazine that was over the table.

"You could have just said that." Ami said, with her arms crossed.

"Really? You aren't even gonna ask why I can't tell you about the princess?" They... they had so much trust in her? It made her feel like a rat for being forced to lie to the girls.

"While I admit having a cat bossing me around isn't my ideal way to pass the time, and that the fact your memory seems bad worries me, you must have your reasons." Considering the conversation was over, Ami picked a book to read, maybe today she would finally have enough time to finish reading The Odyssey by Homer.

With the two girls ignoring her and being busy reading, Luna lazily sat in the couch next to the blonde. Sometimes, it was really bizarre how those two could go from discussing about Sailor Senshi stuff to do other things just like that. It was also annoying both girls would just go to do other things once they considered a Sailor Senshi conversation was over, just ignoring Luna. But then, being a Senshi had taken time out of both girls' personal time, Ami was sometimes quite blunt when acting as Sailor Mercury and Usagi had a short attention span.

As strange as it was, they had a team dynamic, and it worked. Ami tried very hard to make Usagi study and be a better Sailor Senshi, but basically all she had in common with Usagi was being a Senshi, so who could blame her for just going to do what she wanted once Senshi business was done for the day? It's not as if Ami didn't get along with the blonde, is just that they where very different.

Usagi... well, she was Usagi. Sometimes she was the typical blonde klutz, others she acted like a ten year old instead of her own age. But occasionally she acted smart, hinting that perhaps the way she acted was because of personal preference and not because she was stupid. She was surprisingly good adjusting to other people, that made it weird that her only frequent friends where Ami and Naru. Her way of thinking was something like "A talking cat? Big deal, I see that on TV all the time. Being Sailor Moon and saving the world? Hey at least the costume is cute and being a heroine is cool. There are other Sailor Senshi? I wonder if Sailor V is real, that would be amazing! Sailor Mercury is a genius? Great, she can help me with my homework!"

So, it shouldn't have been a surprise she was so eager to welcome Lady Rose to the team. At least Ami and Luna had hammered in Usagi's head enough times that they shouldn't involve non-Senshi in their fight against the Dark Kingdom. Or, just the fact Rose was a ninja with fire powers would have made the blonde try to recruit her right away.

* * *

"So... where will you live?" Ryoga had been doing his duties in the temple with Kiseki the kitsune just following him around for hours now. He had tried his best to avoid talking with the excuse of work, but now that all work was done, he would have to face her.

"With my big brother of course!"

"You are a tad small for being a temple maiden."

There was a poof of smoke and in place of the small fox girl now was a fifteen year old temple maiden with long black hair and green eyes "You said something?"

Ryoga blushed and looked down, it was one thing to deal with a five year old, but this... why she had to be so beautiful as a teenager?

"But what about..."

"Oh Ryoga, I see your have meet Sakura Kiseki, Miss Kiseki, this is Ryoga. I hope you two learn to work well together." Master Hino said smiling and winked at Ryoga.

"What? But..."

"Ryoga, I might be an old pervert, but even I know better that to chase after a girl her age. You on the other hand, are what, eighteen at most? The perfect age for love."

"I err..." Ryoga didn't know what to say, and his imagination wasn't helping.

"Now Master Hino, you should know better that to tease Ryoga-kun like that!"

"Well, I know he is obsessed with a girl named Akane Tendo, but it's not like I find much fun at my age."

Later

Kiseki, back into her five year old form, grabbed a coloring book. "Hahaha! This coloring book is mine, all mine! I will draw without respecting the lines and use the wrong colors!" She said laughing like a villain.

"I guess you are buying that, right?" The bookstore owner said.

"Yes, small sisters can be such a bother, right?"

* * *

Ranko woke up taking a shower. Weird, she didn't remember getting there, her body felt a bit sore, like she had been doing a lot of exercise.

"Welcome back Ranma Saotome. I... the Burning Rose, kind of used your body, and I killed a youma."

Ranko was about to say something, when the memories of what had happened since Rose woke up wearing her body rushed into her head. It seems that after meeting Sailor Mercury and running away, a certain ninja had been roof hoping for hours, as if to delay certain confrontation. That did explain why Ranko felt so sore. Ranko didn't get the memories of Rose flashback for some reason, so she didn't knew about Rose sacrifice, or the fact she had lied about never being a mother since she had a son.

"This wasn't what we agreed." Ranko... no... Ranma's female voice sounded cold.

"I know, and I apologize. But... you just weren't there. Did something happen?"

"I talked with... a girl me, she said her name was Red, told me you been training her. She also told me how much she hated the fact I don't enjoy being a girl. We also talked about... my mother."

"I see, anything else you wanna share?"

"Well... I think I might feel a bit less bad about being female from now on. But I still prefer to be a guy. Can... can you do that too? Drag me inside my head?" Ranma sounded a bit insecure and scared, if there was an enemy she didn't know how to fight, were inside her head. The neko-ken was bad enough and now she had two girls inside her mind that could manipulate her.

"You where technically having an intense dream, but guess the answer is yes if certain conditions are met. You might have been thinking about what being a girl means to you, that's why you talked to Red. My awakening has also opened your mind."

"Opened my mind?"

"I was as much as a Martial Artist as I was a user of fire magic. My senses where trained in ways you only barely had begun to tap. Now you can sense auras, way better than you used to do. You will able to detect if someone has magic, not only strong ki as your did before. You might be able to sense when a person isn't human, like a youma, demon or even a Kami in disguise. We could say that you have beginning to open your third eye."

"Will this new senses keep getting stronger?"

"Yes, give it a few weeks and you might be able to see behind a disguise field."

"So, we will know the Senshi civilian identities?"

"Like it was that hard, a girl with blue hair and a blonde, both teenagers. Probably go to the same school together. School most likely in Juuban. Heck, when we start school here we not only probably go to the same school but we might even end in the same class!" Rose sounded overconfident, like she had all the answers in the world, but Ranko knew it was a mask, its what she would have done.

"Start... school here?" Ranko didn't even dare to say what that would involve, wearing a girl's uniform... someone up there must really have it for her, probably Genma's fault.

"Please, you think this whole magical girl thing was a summer job? We have to stay, that means going to school once summer ends."

"Wait, I thought the same thing the other day, only you weren't talking in my head!"

"And?"

"We need a job..."

"The Shrine, right?"

"You weren't putting those thoughts in my head, where you?" That was a scary thought, even if Rose had said she didn't want to take over, today had proven Rose didn't deserve trust.

"No, but technically we are the same person, is not so weird we where thinking the same thing." Rose didn't say it, but this was proof that even if Ranma Saotome wasn't getting more flashbacks of her life as the Burning Rose, the merging of personalities was happening anyway.

"Look... you betrayed my trust, you broke your word. I don't think I can trust you anymore, even after you apologized. And... the brutal way you beat that youma... Sailor Mercury was scared of you, and I think she was right."

"What do you mean?"

"Our deal is over, I know I can't really prevent you from taking control if you want to, but don't expect me to cooperate."

"Have you noticed you forgot the waterproof soap with Ryoga?" Rose said, trying to change the subject.

"I did? Then how come I didn't... is the period right?"

"Yes, the curse would probably get locked for a while if you ever..."

"Don't say it!"

"Sorry!"

"So, is boy Ranma once this period is over... and when that happens... I want to go back to my old life. Will you try to stop me?'"

"Ranma Saotome, will you just let the Sailor Senshi fight youma alone, without your help? What about your honor? Can you really just let those poor girls get killed?"

"Don't talk to me about honor, I am tired of that crap! I am tired of people using the word honor just to abuse me, then ignoring the same honor when it's convenient for them. I want to control my life instead of having others controlling it!"

"You really think you can just run away back to Nerima, like nothing had happened?"

"You aren't a Sailor Senshi, right? And even if you once where, all obligations and debts cease at death. This isn't my fight. As I said before, I can't really stop you, but you can't control me all the time."

"Ranma, I can regulate our body temperature so we don't change with cold water. Is not a cure, but is pretty close. If you decide to stay... I can make it so you can be a boy all the time you want, as long as you are awake."

"You had that ability all this time and never told me? Of course you didn't, you needed me to be Ranko, not Ranma. And now that your plans, whatever they are, seem to be failing, you try to bribe me. Not a chance!"

"I could take control of your body, turn into a boy and ruin your reputation, please don't make me do that Ranma, we need to work together, not against each other!"

"And when a bribe doesn't work, you try threatening me. Ya know, for a while I... I admired you. But... you just are like everyone else in my life, just using me for their selfish goals without caring about what I want."

Silence, Ranma waited several minutes, Rose didn't seem to be in the mood to talk to her anymore. She had done the same when Ranma asked if one of the Senshi was Queen Serenity or the Princess. Ranma tries to calm down, it takes her almost an hour to do so.

"Look... it wasn't just my anger talking. Once, a wise man told me that Destiny is what you make of it, after Jusenkyo, I had stopped believing that. But now, I want to believe that again. I must stop losing time and just go to get what I want. Is after all, what you did yourself, right? Abandoning your father to join the Amazons."

Rose still didn't seem like she wanted to talk to Ranma.

"I will go to China and try to get a cure, I don't care how many obstacles get in my way. I know Red will be furious with me, and you too, but I have to at least try. You said yourself than the Queen was very smart, there must be some backup plan to help the Senshi, even if they don't have Sailor Mars around."

"I am proud of you Ranma Saotome," said Rose, her voice sounded sincere.

"What? How can you say that when I am basically ruining your plans?" Now Ranma was confused, was Rose trying to manipulate him again?

"I have been a hypocrite, wanting to rule your life when myself did everything I could to walk my own path. I don't know if the path you have chosen is the right one or not, but is one you have picked yourself. A true sage is not bossed around by anyone, he or she makes its own choices."

"So... you won't try to stop me?" Ranma sounded hopeful, could it be that finally, things is her life started to take a turn for the better?

"Of course I will try to stop you, where would be the fun if I didn't?"

"WHAT'? Then why you just said you where proud of me? Are you just playing around?"

"Is Ranma Saotome, man among men, backing down for a challenge? Will he be defeated by a weak woman?"

"NEVER!"

"Good, once your period is over, prepare for war Saotome, I won't go easy on you."

"What about Red? Will it be two against one?"

"I won't let her interfere, this is personal."

Ranma face formed into a confident smirk, she knew that if it was two against one she would surely lose, but one vs. one? At least now, she had a chance. Ranma didn't realize it, but by facing Rose, she had stopped to refer as herself as Ranko when she was female.

"Then let the best warrior win!"

"Ranma, your period isn't over yet."

"Ah right... could you let me be alone until then? I don't want you reading my thoughts and finding out my plans."

"Sounds fair, besides, you need all the help you can get."

"Hey! Don't underestimate me!" Ranma protested, but Rose didn't answer back.

**AN2:** Some may think this is story derailment, but you are forgetting there are other girls who still have to join Team Senshi, so in a way, it makes sense to have Ranma try going on his own adventure while that happens. Plus, if Rose and Ranma's personalities are slowly merging, why not have Ranma try to do something Rose did in the past? So, who do you think is Rose reborn son, has he even been reborn in this period at all?


End file.
